
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



<^/ia/i Uo 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



/ 



BY 



NORMAN MACLEOD, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF "WEE DAVIE," "EASTWARD," ETC., AND EDITOR OF "GOOD WORDS." 



PROFUSELY ILLUSTRATED. 



y 



V 



C^ 




PHILADELPHIA: 

J. B. LIPPINGOTT & CO. 

18 to. 



7)- 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTEK I. 

PAGE 

Calcutta to Benares .9 



CHAPTER II. 
From Allahabad to Luckxow 44 

CHAPTEPv III. 
From Lucknow to Agra 91 

CHAPTEPw IV. 
Dkmii ... 136 



V } 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



The Great Arch of Delhi .... Frontispiece. 

Boats on the Ganges 25 

The Ghauts, Benares 29 

Palace inside the Fort 47 

The Ghat of the Massacre, Cawnpore 57 

Kaiser Bagh, or King's Palace, Lucknow .... 71 

The Bailey Guard, Lucknow 77 

The Banqueting-hall of the Kesidency, Lucknow . . 85 

The Taj 110 

The Taj and Gardens 113 

Tomb of Akbar 119 

The Fort of Agra 123" 

Balcony of Zenana, at Agra 125 

The Pearl Mosque 131 

The Quadrangle of Pearl Mosque 145 

The Chandnee Chouk 153 

The Jumna Musjid, from the North 139 

The Kootab-Minar, with the Great Arch, from the West 149 

KuiNS OF Old Delhi, from thk top of Humayoon's Tomb . 157 

The Old Observatory 101 

The Cashmere Gate 171 

( vii ) 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



CHAPTER I. 

CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 

Days — only days! very few they were, yet very 
memorable. A single fortnight to see Benares, Alla- 
habad, Cawnpore, Lucknow, Agra, and Delhi! Still, 
I am persuaded, every traveler will agree with me 
that a vast deal of nonsense is talked about the use- 
lessness of brief visits. Want of time may be pain- 
fully felt and acknowledged, and yet, nevertheless, 
how rapidly the most vivid, correct, and enduring 
impressions may be made! All have felt this who 
have even for a few minutes gazed through a tele- 
scope on some brilliant constellation, or through the 
microscope on the marvelous creatures scintillating 
and roving about in a drop of water. Who that has 
stood even for one hour by Niagara or Vesuvius; 
gazed at Mont Blanc from Chamouni, or on Jeru- 
salem from Nebi Samwil ; stood on the Acropolis, or 
on the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle; walked through 
St. Peter's, the cathedrals of Milan and Cologne, or 

2 (9) 



10 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



York Minster; or even looked on any work of art, — 
and has not felt the power, the wealth, the gain of a 
few hours, or even of a few minutes? On the other 
hand, how little, in comparison, may be seen or ac- 
quired by "a voyage round the world," notwithstand- 
ing the ground voyaged over and the time occupied 
in it! For months and months, each day as much 
like the day before as if the ship was anchored in 
mid-ocean; few places touched at, and still fewer of 
these being of interest to any human creature ! Pan- 
ama is probably hurried across in a train pursued by 
fever; then the Sandwich Islands; Japan; Singa- 
pore ; the Cape ; and home ! A single day in Ben- 
ares or Agra, not to speak of famous historical places 
in Palestine or Europe, is worth the whole trip! Yet 
the one traveler can say, " I had but a fortnight ;" 
and the other, "I have gone round the world !" Nor 
do I see that it would have added any value to this 
journey even if, as in the olden time, I had taken six 
months round the Cape to reach Calcutta, and other 
three months by Dak or Palki, to reach Delhi. 

I left Calcutta on the evening of the 11th of 
February. Many friends accompanied me to the 
railway station at Howrath, across the Hooghly — 
for a railway bridge does not yet connect Calcutta 
with its iron roads. But I believe one is about to be 
erected. My official work in India had now termi- 
nated. There were no other mission-stations con- 
nected with our church to be visited by me. Dr. 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. \\ 

Watson was to do all this alone. Still, wherever I 
went, and as far as my time and limited opportunities 
permitted, I made myself acquainted with missionary 
operations. I did not, however, feel as heretofore the 
necessity of devoting myself almost exclusively to 
this one great object for which our church had sent 
us to India. 

In spite of heat and other drawbacks, I experienced 
now for the first time since leaving home the feelings 
of the boy quitting school for a fortnight's holiday. 
I anticipated with delight any glimpse, however tran- 
sient, of " Holy" Benares, of Cawnpore, of Lucknow, 
Agra, and Delhi, names which no longer summon up, 
as of old, mere associations of Oriental splendor, but 
remembrances of scenes at once the most revolting 
and tragic, and of adventures the most heroic and 
exciting. 

There is nothing in Calcutta itself which recalls 
the mutiny. But the moment one enters the railway 
terminus at Howrah, he cannot fail to remember a 
famous scene. Intent only on keeping time accord- 
ing to the rules of the company, a station-master 
with his force tried to resist General Neill and his 
"lambs," bent upon pushing on to the rescue of 
our countrymen. The question was practically and 
promptly settled by Neill putting the stokers and 
station-master, the drivers and guards of the train 
under arrest, until all the troops were seated, and 
whirled off, few of them ever to return. 



12 DATS JN NORTH INDIA. 

Soon after dark I found myself alone, rushing 
along the line Avhich, for upwards of a thousand 
miles, leads to Delhi. There is little of any interest 
to attract the eye or break the ennui of the long 
journey. I do not remember any tunnel the whole 
way. We passed along the shore of the Ganges, 
though not always close to it, and across plains, ex- 
cept when, at some points, we skirted a low line of 
hills rising like a line of beach to this ocean of al- 
luvial soil. There was not much visible of any of 
the towns we passed. The natives who crowded the 
station-houses were very like the people we saw every- 
where. They pushed along in feverish anxiety to get 
their seats, being frequently encumbered with their 
bundles of household gear. Their wives and children 
clung to them all the while, and jabbered with nerv- 
ous earnestness. 

The first-class carriages are very comfortable. Each 
seat is capable of accommodating six persons, but 
they are never crowded, the greatest possible con- 
sideration being shown to European travelers. They 
are much more lofty and roomy than ours, and are 
protected from the sun by double roofs, projecting 
shades, and Venetian blinds. The mode of accom- 
modating sleepers is very simple and efficient. The 
portion which forms the cushioned back of the long 
seats is lifted up like a shelf, and is made fast by 
straps to the roofs. Large couches are thus formed, 
each capable, with a little bendino; uf the knees, of 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 13 

giving stretching room to the travelers at night. At 
every station abundance of cool drinking water is 
supplied by a Bhestie, and earthen jars are sold for a 
trifle, in which it may be kept cool in the carriage. 
The refreshment-rooms are at convenient distances, 
and are well supplied. At many of them the traveler 
may remain for the night. As there are English 
officials everywhere, there are no difficulties in get- 
ting along. Most travelers are wise enough, how- 
ever, to provide some luxuries for the journey; and 
the private box is often resorted to in preference to 
the refreshment-room. I never saw any native gentle- 
men traveling in the same compartment with Euro- 
peans. This circumstance, however, arises not so 
much from any repugnance of race, as from customs 
and habits which make the native repugnant to the 
European, and the European equally repugnant to 
the native. 

We reached Bankimpore, the station nearest to 
Patna, next day, and were most hospitably received 
and entertained by Mr. Richardson the magistrate. 
Dr. Watson had traveled by Palki to Gyah, some 
sixty miles off, and returned with our two mission- 
aries, Mr. Clark and Mr. Macfarlane, old friends of 
mine, that we might confer together at Patna. I was 
unable to see anything of this great Mahommedan 
city, but I had the happiness of meeting at the house 
of Mr. Richardson a large party of our countrymen. 

We left Patna next evening, and reached Benares 

2* 



l^ DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

about midnight. Here we were welcomed by the 
Rev. Mr. Kennedy, the respected missioncary of the 
London Society, who has long labored in this city. 
Mr. Clark had returned to Gyah, but Mr. Macfarlane 
accompanied us as far as Lucknow. Mr. Kennedy 
had made every preparation to enable us to see as 
much as possible of the city. The handsome English 
carriage of the Rajah Sir Deo Nary en Singh was 
waiting for us at the station, and next day was 
kindly put at our disposal, and our first visit was 
to the Rajah. 

I may here state that Benares is the finest city in 
Doah. higher or lower. It is on the frontier of the 
great governmental division called the Northwest 
Provinces, which to the north, near Umballa, is 
bounded by the Punjaub, and along its western 
frontier, south of Oude, by the ' Himalaya. These 
magnificent provinces are in area nearly equal to 
Great Britain, with an average of 361 persons to the 
square mile. There is a lieutenant-governor, and the 
provinces are divided into thirty-five districts, with 
six commissionerships. 

But to return to Sir Deo. He was most faithful to 
the British government during the mutiny, and did 
us the greatest service. To testify his sincerity he 
lived with the Resident, and put himself wholly in 
his power, when things were at the worst. No 
wonder that he should have had knighthood con- 
ferred upon him and the order of the Star of India. 



CALCUTTA TO BENABES. 15 

Sir Deo's house and its arrangements seemed in some 
of their features characteristic of India. The outer 
gate led into a bare open compound, surrounded by 
the houses of the servants and dependents. This 
again led into a beautiful, well-watered garden, with 
walks of marble, beyond which was a handsome 
house approached by a double flight of steps, leading 
to the entrance-door from an elevated terrace. This 
door was a very narrow one, with a narrow and steep 
flight, of steps conducting to the public rooms above — 
a species of access which always suggests the idea of 
defense against sudden attack. 

Sir Deo met us at the top of this steep stair, re- 
ceived us very courteously, and conducted us to his 
drawing-room, which was furnished in the same pro- 
fuse manner as those we had seen in Calcutta, with 
European works of art. It is used as a reception- 
room for European visitors only. Mr. Kennedy acted 
as interpreter. Sir Deo seemed to be an unaffected 
man, of much intelligence and common sense. The 
conversation was on several topics, but it was not of 
a kind to be reported. He presented us with flowers 
and scented our handkerchiefs — events of no serious 
importance. His attendants, like those I had seen in 
Calcutta, appeared to have a spirit of deep reverence 
for their master, with the same open-eyed interest in 
all that we said. Their bearing was much like what 
I have observed in Highland servants of the olden 
time — servants, yet friends, in whom a sense of de- 



16 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA, 



pendence was combined with the social sympathies of 
what I may call Patriarchal republicanism. 

Sir Deo sent a servant to accompany us in our 
ramble through the city. This servant carried a most 
imposing "silver stick," which gave one a pleasing 
sense of his own importance. The means of convey- 
ance put at our disposal to thread the streets of 
"Holy Benares" were the Rajah's carriage, elephant, 
and tonjons, a sort of open sedan-chair, which is 
carried by poles resting on the shoulders of the 
bearers. 

After parting with the carriage, v^here the narrow 
streets made it impossible for us to proceed in it, we 
found the elephant waiting for us. I felt awed in 
the presence of the noble beast! My acquaintance 
with his kind had been limited to Wombwell's Men- 
agerie and the Zoological Gardens. We had seen 
only two or three in India, and these did not impress 
us. It had never been proposed to us to ride upon 
any, either as a matter of amusement or of business. 
But here was a proper animal for our use. He was 
of great size, and of great age. He stood with gouty- 
like legs, moving his huge ears. He was clothed in 
a coarse, home-made drapery of skin, fitting loosely to 
his body, and forming trowsers — not exactly like 
those exquisite models pictured at railway stations, 
price I65. A lad sat on his huge head, a thick 
iron spike in his hand, by which he seemed to touch 
the creature's thoughts as if by some electric process. 



CALCUTTA TO BENARKS. I'j 

A ladder placed against his side led up to the seat on 
his summit. It was not possible to look at that small 
eye of his without questioning one's safety: it was so 
inquisitive and sagacious, so thoughtful and calcula- 
ting, that no astonishment would have been felt had 
he, out of sheer fun, played us any trick, and then 
shaken his frame with elephantine laughter. Before 
we ascended he bent his tough gray knees, not, how- 
ever, until cushions had been laid for them. Then 
he quietly knelt down. We got up to our seats, feel- 
ing very much as if we were on the ridge of a one- 
storied house. We there held on as if for life, while 
the mountain heaved, for as he rose on his hind legs 
he sent us forward, and on his fore legs sent us back- 
ward. 

At last we got under way. Judging from my own 
feelings, I was astonished that the people did not 
laugh, and the windows open that the idle women, 
albeit in the East, should see the sight. But all seemed 
to be a matter of course, much as if at home we had 
hired a cab. On we went, with slow, silent, soft, 
stately swing. The great ears were below us, and 
below them the stout tusks, as if to clear the way. 
Having fully realized our dignity, and being fully 
convinced that all asses, horses, carriages — even rail- 
ways — were poor and undignified things when com- 
pared with an elephant, and almost wishing that we 
could have one provided for us as we went to report 
ourselves to the first general assembly in Edinburgh, 



23 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

we nevertheless quietly hinted that a more humble 
mode of conveyance would be quite as comfortable ; 
so we descended, with gratitude for our safety. 

Apart from our own wishes, the streets made this 
change necessary. I question if our august friend 
could have squeezed himself through some of the 
narrow lanes of Benares. In its structure internally 
as a city, as well as in other respects which I shall 
presently allude to, Benares stands alone. The houses 
are all built of solid stone, obtained from the quarries 
of Chumar in the immediate neighborhood. They 
are flanked by houses six or even seven stories high. 
Whether to gain shade from the burning sun, or as a 
means of defense against foes, these streets are so 
narrow as to resemble the closes in the old town of 
Edinburgh. Indeed, if our readers can suppose the 
closes worming through the whole city with sharp 
turnings and endless windings, they will have a pretty 
good idea of the place. There are shops of every kind 
and for every trade, according to the quarter of the 
city. All these are open to the street. There are 
workers in brass and iron, in silver, gold, and jewels 5 
workers of slippers and saddlery; of arms and ac- 
couterments; of cloths and Oriental fabrics ; of sweet- 
meats ad nauseam; and sellers of grain of every kind. 
The lower stories in all the houses are the worst, and 
we sometimes saw cattle stalled in them, and gazing 
out into the street to add to the peculiarity of the 
scene. 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 19 

To a traveler, one of the most remarkable features 
of Benares is the presence of monkeys. The honor 
conferred on this anhnal is not owing to any anticipa- 
tion of the discoveries of Darwin which have made 
the genus interesting, as being the possible ancestors 
of Milton, Shakspeare, and Goethe; but because of 
certain benefits conferred by the king of the monkeys 
upon the deities of Hindoo worship, which need not 
here be inquired into. These funny creatures are fed 
by pilgrims ; they enjoy the happiest, most guileless 
existence in Benares ; and although panics have been 
occasioned by accidents befalling them — a broken leg 
having in one instance sent a foreboding gloom over 
the more religious inhabitants of the city — they them- 
selves seem strangely unconscious of responsibility, 
and leap, and climb, and jabber, and amuse them- 
selves in a way which is really delightful to their 
human descendants. 

The only shop or factory we had time to visit was 
that of the famous Brocade of Benares. We threaded 
our way through many narrow passages, and ascended 
many narrow stairs, and passed through room after 
room, until we got into the treasure-room of the gor- 
2reous manufacture. All this difficulty of entrance 
told of past times, when property was so insecure as 
to demand means of concealment and defense. When 
at last we reached the small chamber where the 
goods were displayed, we fully enjoyed the brilliant 
spectacle. To see those magnificent gold brocades. 



20 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



costing twenty pounds or even more the yard ! Wealth 
might purchase them, but no wealth, save the wealth 
of long trained art, could command the exquisite taste 
they display. Web after web was unfolded, and it 
was a great enjoyment to gaze on them. Oriental 
splendor appeared so natural and so refined, that 
broadcloth and white neck-ties seemed impossible for 
any one who could clothe himself in such gorgeous 
costume. To adopt our vulgar, prosaic, commonplace 
Western suits was like preferring mist and rain to 
the splendors of sunset. From defective arrange- 
ments as to the pay of the clergy, it was impossible 
for me to patronize this magnificent inanufactory. 
But I gave it all I had to bestow — my enthusiastic 
admiration. 

Our next "Peep" at Benares was from the river. 
But before taking this peep I must put the reader 
more en o^apport with this famous city. 

Benares is to the Hindoos what Mecca is to the 
Mohammedans, and what Jerusalem was to the Jews 
of old. It is the "holy" city of Hindostan. I have 
never seen anything approaching to it as a visible 
embodiment of religion; nor does anything like it 
exist on earth. Its antiquity is great — how great I 
do not know. As in the case of most ancient cities, 
there are in it few remains of the old portions. Per- 
haps not a single building or even the remains of one 
exists which dates beyond three or four hundred 
years, and this owing to the domination of the Mos- 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 21 

lem, with his hatred of idolatry and idol temples. 
Even poor, desolate Jerusalem has many more ves- 
tiges of the past than Benares. But nevertheless it 
is now, as it has been for long ages, the grand center 
of Hindoo worship and veneration. It contains a 
thousand temples, and tens of thousands of images of 
all the gods worshiped in Hindostan. To make a 
pilgrimage to Benares, to visit its shrines, and walk 
for fifty miles around its sacred territory, even though 
tottering with age or sickness, and almost crawling 
on the earth, has for centuries been the highest ambi- 
tion of the devotee, from Cape Comorin to the Him- 
alayas. And to die in Benares has been the sure 
passport of millions wishing for glory. The orthodox 
rulers of territories, small or great, recognized its 
sanctity; and in person, or by the substitution of 
their vakeel, have paid their respects and money to 
it, and sought its blessings. Many nobles have built 
their palaces in it, and have reared temples, or long 
flights of stairs, or ghauts, for the convenience of the 
faithful. Not a few have spent and many still spend 
the evening of their days within its walls, atoning 
for their sins by their asceticism, or by their liberal 
hospitality and largesse to the ever-recipient Brah- 
mins. Benares has been the Vatican, the Oxford and 
Cambridge, of Hindostan. Here the most learned 
men of India have lived, studying the Vedas, which 
to all but the priesthood were sealed books, until 
they were mastered and published by Max Miiller 

3 



22 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

and his learned brotherhood. The pundits of Ben- 
ares have written learned treatises on grammar, met- 
aphysics, and theology; students from every part of 
the country come to live with them and study under 
them. Here, miserable devotees covered with ashes 
have endured fiercest torments ; and holy beggars in 
crowds have collected their alms. Holy bulls have 
wandered through the streets, and as gods were re- 
vered, being made welcome to eat at every grain 
shop they were pleased to honor with their atten- 
tions. No " melas/' or holy fairs, were so attended 
as those of Benares. Hundreds of thousands every 
year gathered to this the scene of their solemni- 
ties. 

Changes to some extent have taken place. The 
"melas" are not now so well attended. Without 
much opposition, the bulls have, for sanitary reasons, 
been denied the freedom of the streets. But the 
monkeys are as holy and as numerous as ever. As 
the last convulsive effort of dying Brahminism, the 
temples increase rather than diminish ; and the city 
is as much as ever " wholly given to idolatry." 

The difference between the finest temples in Ben- 
ares and those in South India is very visible. The 
former are paltry and contemptible in comparison 
with the latter. This, I understand, has been oc- 
casioned by the Mohammedan persecutions in former 
days, when the Great Mogul was all and all. Large 
temples would then have been destroyed, and large 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 23 

shrines were consequently preferred, as being more 
easily built again if destroyed. The Hindoos never 
had such freedom under ''native" Mohammedan rule 
as they have enjoyed under the foreign Christian 
government of Britain. 

To visit the temples of Benares would be the labor 
of weeks, and the profit more than questionable. We 
visited the chief one, however, the temple of Bishes- 
war, the idol king of Benares. 

The one which we visited was a sort of cathedral. 
It had nothing imposing in its structure. The lingam 
predominated, and, in fact, was all in all. 

The usual ceremony of worshipers in this temple 
consists in presenting some flowers to the ugly-look- 
ing monster called God. They prostrated themselves 
before him, and struck the bell, which is in every 
temple, and then departed. The temples are always 
wet with the holy water of the Ganges, which is 
poured on the god, and over every offering. Many 
of the worshipers throw themselves down before the 
savage-looking image, and not a few seemed excited 
by bang. There is a famous well beside the temple, 
into which flowers were cast, and from whose fetid 
waters worshipers drank. The people looked utterly 
stupid and prosaic ; many of them were sensual and 
depraved in appearance, and the whole scene dis- 
gusting in the extreme. This impression was not 
lessened by the sight of figures of bulls carved in 
stone, reminding one, as they did, of the olden time 



24 DAtS IN NORTH iNJJlA. 

of Apis and the golden calves, with the condemna- 
tion of the Almighty upon them. 

We rowed down the river through the city, for 
two or three miles, in a covered boat. Certainly I 







never saw such a striking spectacle in my life. It 
remains unapproached and unapproachable in my 
memory. No description can give any adequate idea 
of the scene. I must refer to the illustration, al- 
though even it can only convey an imperfect notion 
to the reader. The architecture was remarkable ; 
yet no building, unless perhaps the two remarkable 
minarets, made any distinct impression of beauty or 
of grandeur upon the mind. Still, as a whole, and 
with many remarkable hits, it was extraordinary. 
The city rose high from the edge of the grand old 
river with a strength and imposing majesty (from its 
height and the vast mass of stone) such as I had not 




ii;1l|i|fllll1ntf'l1l!|||i|?i;liili!'!i:li;i!l'l!l 






CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 



27 



before seen in the East. The river itself flowing in 
broad and rapid stream formed a splendid foreground 




to the picture. Its surface was covered with every 
kind of out-of-the-way picturesque boat, whose sails, 





whether white or saffron-colored, whole or tattered, 
each made a study. The marvelous line of archi- 

3* 



28 



DAYS IN NOBTH INDIA. 



tecture was of every possible variety of form, the 
ghauts, or landing-places, having long flights of stairs, 
and being continued on and on along the river, in 
such numbers as one never saw before. These stairs 
were not uniform, but were longer or shorter, broader 
or narrower, according to each builder's fancy. All, 




however, were built of solid stone, massive and ap- 
parently enduring. Above these, and mingling with 
them in utter confusion, were a countless number of 
temples, small and great. And then, lastly, over- 
topping these, were fortress-looking stone palaces of 
rajahs, who had here their town residences, although 
probably they generally resided in distant parts of 
India. When one was cool enough — for the spectacle 
was most exciting — to look at architectural details, 
how picturesque they were! As to the excellence 




Page 31. 




THE UUAIT^, UENAUE^. 



I'agoai. 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 31 

of these works as artistic productions I could form 
no judgment as I floated past — I felt, but could 
not criticise. And certainly nothing could be more 
unique than such a first glimpse beneath the bright 
sun, and the blue sky, of an outline so broken, and 
of forms so fantastic; — of brightest lights and shadows 
numberless; — of balconies, verandas, towers, cupolas, 
oriel windows, projections, recesses, and covered gal- 
leries, endless and indescribable! And then there 
was the absence of every trace of Westernism, for 
so far as the eye could see, no Englishman had ever 
visited Benares. There Hindooism had reigned long 
ere the Romans had landed in Great Britain, and did 
not seem to have been disturbed. 

The ghauts are wholly given to idolatry, and were 
alive with devotees. Hundreds, nay, thousands, 
crowded them ; many performing their ablutions in 
the holy waters of the Ganges, and saying their 
prayers. Thousands, again, grouped round the holy 
Brahmins, who sit under their white umbrellas, 
planted like beds of great mushrooms along the 
river; for, under these, all ceremonies are properly 
arranged, blessings bestowed, and fees paid. Here 
the weak, the aged, and the sick who have arrived 
from long pilgrimages of hundreds of miles, receive 
spiritual strength and comfort from these sacred 
waters, or die and enter heaven direct from its gate. 
On one ghaut smoke constantly ascends from the 
burning bodies of the dead, and on another the most 



oo DATS IN NOBTE INDIA. 

heinous crimes are being atoned for. Rest is prom- 
ised to the sinful and weary as the reward of sacri- 
fices, pains, penances, and pay. And all this has 
been going on for centuries! What knows this, 
spiritual world of Benares about us — and what care 
we for it! Alas, we are only excited or amused by 
this antique drama— so strange, so un-European, so 
old-world is it. Were we ourselves right toward God 
and man, and had we love to our Father and our 
brother, we should look at such a spectacle with a 
very different eye, and experience a poignant sorrow 
for such ignorance, degradation, and " lying vanities." 
One spectacle only is more sad and alarming, the 
idolatries, the mammon worship, the indifference and 
the formality, the materialism and unbelief which 
exist at home. Within the heart of the Church of 
Christ, more than anywhere else, the battles are to 
be fought and the victories gained, which will insure 
the spiritual conquest of India, and ultimately con- 
vert such a city as Benares into a home of Christian 
worship. 

I have before me a lecture, delivered in December, 
1866, by a native, Lingam Lakshmaji Pantlu Garu, 
before the Benares Institute, which gives anything 
but a flattering account of "the social status of the 
Hindoos." Whether his is a correct account or not, I 
cannot tell. But it is interesting as being the judg- 
ment of " one of their own children," who, one would 
think, must be well informed on the subject. If his 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 33 

statements were untrue, he would hardly dare to 
give them forth in the city of Benares, and among 
his own people. 

There are about ten missionaries in Benares, sup- 
ported by the Church Missionary and London Mis- 
sionary Societies, with schools, native pastors and 
teachers, and native congregations. Mr. Kennedy, 
our host, who is connected with the London Mission, 
and Mrs. Leupoldt of the Church Mission, have 
labored here for twenty-six years. Here, as in other 
parts of Lidia, we have evidences that the combined 
forces of Western culture and civilization, together 
with education and Christian teaching, are slowly but 
surely creating a better public opinion, and, if not 
making many individual converts as yet, are most 
certainly and surely preparing the way for greater 
results in the future. 

There is also in Benares a very handsome govern- 
ment college, which I had time only to glance at. It 
seemed full of young men, and was presided over by 
a distinguished Oriental scholar. 

And now, before starting for Cawnpore and Luck- 
now, I must say a few words about the great mutiny, 
thoughts of which possess the mind in visiting those 
cities, just as do thoughts of battle, and thoughts of 
the bravery of our countrymen, when we visit the 
field of Waterloo and the ruins of Houguemont. 

As we peruse the many narrations of such a terri- 
ble time as that of the Lidian mutiny, or when in 



34 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



silence and with a full heart we pace over the spots 
associated with the awful and stirring events which 
these describe, we find it difficult to " set them in 
order" before the mind, and to form a clear and pre- 
cise idea of them, any more than when reading the 
account of a fleet bravely combating the winds and 
waves of a furious hurricane, we can follow the evo- 
lutions of each vessel, and realize the details of the 
scene. In the history of the mutiny all seems in- 
extricable confusion. Innumerable pictures rapidly 
pass before the eye and excite our wonder and our 
profoundest sympathy: large armies rising against 
defenseless men, women, and children ; officers rudely 
massacred; inconceivable treachery; robberies; can- 
tonments on fire; miscreants let out of prison; tele- 
graphs destroyed; communication cut off; defenses 
extemporized; agonized women and children flying 
by night anywhere to escape the shouts and yells of 
murderers in pursuit; broken-hearted husbands and 
fathers, in nakedness and want, wandering through 
the jungles to seek shelter in vain, and dropping 
down one by one under disease, or fatigue, or the 
stealthy hand of the assassin ; heroic defenses rising 
everywhere against fearful odds ; with sufferings, 
agonies, escapes, battles, victories, each and all of 
tragic interest ; culminating at length in the defense 
and relief of Lucknow, the capture of Delhi, which 
crown a history of such indomitable courage as cannot 
be surpassed by that of Greek or Roman fame. 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 35 

It is strange to be reminded — as one often is — how 
a new generation has already grown up, who do not 
remember these occurrences, and know little of them 
— although to many of us they seem fresh as "the 
latest intelligence" of the daily newspaper. But the 
memories of such times must not be allowed to perish ! 
What our nation has suffered and achieved in the 
past is a precious inheritance to all generations ; and 
her sins and chastisements, as well as her deeds of 
righteousness and her triumphs, should live in our 
thoughts as lessons for our warning or for our encour- 
agement. 

Those who wish to obtain full and accurate in- 
formation, gathered from the most authentic sources, 
regarding the history of the mutiny, will find it in 
Mr. Kaye's deeply interesting " Sepoy War."* Yet, 
as the subject of the mutiny was naturally a constant 
topic of conversation with those whom we met in 
India who had taken a prominent part in the leading 
events of that memorable time, I may be permitted 
to say a few words on the subject. 

1. It was not a rebellion of the country against 
the British rule, but a mutiny of the soldiery — a 
"Sepoy War" only. Accordingly, as a rule, the 
natives of power or political influence did not rise 
against us ; while all to whom we had shown kind- 
ness, and by whom we had dealt justly, stood bravely 

* The first volume only has been published as yet. 



36 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



by us. Men of wealth everywhere, who had any- 
thing to lose, did the same. The titular King of 
Delhi, the deposed King of Oude, Holkar, the mis- 
creant Nana Sahib, and such like, had suffered real 
or supposed injuries at the hands of our government; 
while others, from fear or from hopes of booty, were 
carried away, or forced into the movement by the 
fierce, and, for a time, apparently successful, Sepoys. 
But, with such exceptions as these, our enemies were 
composed of the soldiery — the contents of broken-up 
jails and gangs of hereditary robbers, who had been 
kept under control by the sheer power of the govern- 
ment. To these may be added the many to be found 
everywhere who hoped to get something for them- 
selves in the scramble. 

I do not allege, by any means, that the natives 
did not rebel, owing to their affection or disaffection 
toward our people and our government.* It must be 

* In July, 1867, a confidential circular was issued by the Viceroy to 
the leading civil administrators in British India, demanding their opinion 
with reference to the correctness of a doubt expressed by the present 
Marquis of Salisbury (then Lord Cranbourne), in the House of Com- 
mons, as to whether the system of British administration in India pos- 
sessed, in the minds of the natives, any superiority over the method of 
government pursued in the Independent States. This called forth about 
thirty replies, which were published by the Indian government at Cal- 
cutta, in December, 1867. In this correspondence the question started 
is fully treated, and the amplest justice is done to all sides by the men 
most competent to deal with such a matter. It impresses one very deeply, 
I think, with the political wisdom, the intellectual grasp, and thorough 
fairness and honesty, of the leading civilians who practically govern 
India — and it is full also of deeply-interesting information. 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 37 

confessed that the English generally are not popular. 
They are apt to be distant in their manners; to 
show a large amount of hauteur and pomposity; to 
look at things too much through English spectacles ; 
to be somewhat wanting in social sympathies with 
foreigners, as well as in the fancy and imagination 
required to understand Oriental character. And to 
all this must be added their merely temporary resi- 
dence in the country, and the utter impossibility of 
their coming into close contact with the people, owing 
to wide differences in language, race, and, above all, 
in the customs and feelings springing out of religion. 
Thus it is that the Westerns never can be popular 
with the Easterns, let them govern ever so wisely and 
well. But whether popular or unpopular, whether, 
on the whole, wise or unwise, it remains beyond all 
question that ours is the best government which has 
ever existed in India. There never was one which 
has so benefited the masses of the country, or given 
such security to life and property. Nor have any 
before tried so honestly to do their duty, or been so 
truly a " terror to evil-doers and a praise to them 
that do well." 

But if there was no enthusiasm for us as a people 
on the part of any class, there was a positive and 
undying hatred toward us on the part of the Mo- 
hammedans, as well as a growing dislike entertained 
toward us by the orthodox Hindoos and Brahmins. 
They easily perceived that their old civilization was 

4 



3g DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

being every day, and in many forms, brought into 
direct antagonism with ours ; and were forced to the 
conckision that theirs must, in the long run, give 
way. As to the rural population whom we have 
most benefited, they often behaved very well and 
kindly to our people when seeking shelter during the 
mutiny.* But what could be expected from these 
rude and ignorant natives, whose own superiors and 
friends had risen against us ? What knew they of 
past governments, so as to be able to contrast them 
with our own? All they knew was, that Might 
alone had a right to claim their homage and respect, 
and as this seemed no longer to belong to the Ferin- 
gees, their claims were gone ! The peasants and the 
princes, the ryots and the rajahs, were in some re- 
spects alike. All were equally indifferent to the 
English race; all regarded them as strangers and 

* Mr. Kennedy, our host while at Benares, published a brief but well- 
written account of the " Great Mutiny" in October, 1857. In writing 
on this point he speaks thus : 

" To see European gentlemen and ladies fleeing on foot for their lives, 
in a country about which they had hitherto ridden in carriages as the 
rulers of the land, was an extraordinary spectacle which drew forth 
wonder and pity. We have heard of villagers lifting up their hands 
and giving expression to their astonishment in the strongest terms. ISTot 
a few, utterly destitute, wandered among them, and were helped and re- 
lieved. We have known of a major's lady, with three children, the 
youngest thirteen months old, and the eldest not five years, without a 
rupee, without a change of clothing, without an attendant, wandering 
about for a fortnight in a very turbulent district, and everywhere 
treated with pity and kindness, till at last she succeeded in reaching a 
European station. Eor every such instance of kindness we fear ten in- 
stances of treachery and cruelty might be adduced." 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 39 

aliens ; and all worshiped Power de facto, without 
respect to dejitre. The diiference between them was 
this, that the poor man thought he might gain some- 
thing and lose nothing by a revolution, while the rich 
man believed the reverse ; the one supposed that 
power belonged to the Sepoy, and therefore they fol- 
lowed him ; the other believed that it belonged to 
the government, and therefore they supported it. It 
was thus not a rebellion, but a mutiny, in which, 
from various motives, many natives sympathized, but 
few of any influence assisted either by men or 
money. 

2. But what occasioned this mutiny among our 
Sepoys, who had so long fought and conquered for 
us, been trusted by us, and officered by us ? This has 
been all accounted for by the condition of the Bengal 
army. Its discipline had become lax ; its feelings, 
its whims and prejudices, had been in some respects 
too much yielded to, while in others they were not 
sufficiently considered and respected. Above all, the 
native soldiery apparently held all power in its own 
hands, and seemed to be able to seize the whole 
country, and bring back the reign of the Moguls. 
Moreover, the Crimean and Persian war had pre- 
vented British troops from being regularly sent to 
India. Never had the country, with its treasuries, 
magazines, and forts, been so entirely given up to 
native regiments for protection. At Cawnpore, which 
used to have a strong European gnrrison, with in- 



40 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

fan try, dragoons, and artillery, there was but one 
company of European artillery, and a large native 
force. In the whole Province of Benares, with a 
population nearly three times greater than that of all 
Scotland, when the mutiny broke out, there was only 
a European force of twenty-five artillerymen and sixty 
invalid soldiers, while there were everywhere native 
regiments of infantry, cavalry, and artillery ! Nor 
did the soldiers of the Bengal army, like those of the 
Madras one, have their wives and families within 
their lines, their homes being in the North, generally 
in Oude, so that the mutineers, going north, fled not 
from their families, but to them. One check against 
the license and excess that ensued was thus absent. 
Another feature of the army was the presence in it of 
so many Brahmins,* who, as I have before remarked, 



^ Mr. Kennedy, in his account, writes that in the 37th Native Infantry 
which mutinied in Benares, there were, according to the account of one 
officer, 400, and to another, 600 Brahmins, He gives the following de- 
scription of these Brahmins : 

" It is commonly thought in Europe that Brahmins are holy men, de- 
voted entirely to religious services ; at one time engaged in conducting 
the worship of the people, and then studying with eagerness the Shastres, 
which they deem the productions of the gods and sages; now unfolding 
to the people the meaning of these Shastres, and then, as their spiritual 
guides, applying their lessons to the varied phases of life ; at one time 
dwelling among the people as their religious teachers, then retiring to 
the wilderness to give themselves uninterruptedly to devotion and ascetic 
practices ; above all, regarding life with the utmost sacredness, shrinking 
from taking the life of an ant, far more the life of a human being. To 
such persons the announcement must be startling, that Brahmins abound 
in the Bengal army. Kesidents in India know well that Brahmins form 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 4| 

had of late become afraid of both their reliirion and of 
their influence being weakened. These fears had been 
intensified by reports of an intention on the part of 
government to send them for service abroad, which 
would destroy their caste; and no doubt the question 
of the greased cartridges, though chiefly the mere 
pretext, was also to some extent one of the causes of 
the mutiny. 



in many district? a large part of the community ; that they are a race, 
rather than a select class set apart for select work, and that they are 
obliged, whatever their theoretic views, to engage largely in secular em- 
ployments for their support. Setting aside the many who find subsist- 
ence as priests, performers of ceremonies, religious teachers, plodding 
scholars, carriers of sacred water, guardians of sacred places, ascetics, and 
religious beggars, there remains a very large part of the community to be 
otherwise occupied and supported. A vast number of them are so illit- 
erate that they cannot read a word, but whatever their work may be, 
they never forget that they are Brahmins. They have had it instilled into 
their minds from their earliest years, that they are essentially different 
from and superior to others, and that it is only an iron age that is the 
cause of their depression. Of their deep humiliation during a large part 
of the Mussulman rule they know little, and think less ; but the most 
illiterate among them are familiar with the traditions, which represent 
them as superior even to the gods. In thought they live in the times of 
which their poets sing, when the world existed only for the glory of the 
Brahmins. That these men should be proud, and look down on others 
with contempt, is an inevitable consequence. 

" Brahmins, even when illiterate, have first-rate talents for plotting, 
and with no check from a foreign element in the ranks, it would be 
strange if their talents were not drawn into exercise. They are also in- 
tensely superstitious. They are not high-principled, or even, as a body, 
orderly in their lives, but their immorality is quite consistent with super- 
stitious zeal. They are superstitious from polic}', as well as from educa- 
tion and habit, being well aware that the downfall of Hindooism would 
be the downfall of that fancied greatness, to which they attach so high a 
value." 

4* 



42 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

Finally, the annexation of Oude, with expectations 
of the same policy being followed out in other dis- 
tricts, added fuel to the flame. The people of Oude 
had no doubt complained to the British resident times 
and ways without number against the cruelties and 
tyrannies of their native rulers, and of the lawless 
oppression which everywhere prevailed. A more 
worthless and depraved king and court, a more in- 
famous horde of men and women, than that which 
crowded the palaces of Lucknow never existed upon 
earth. They lived in the wildest and lowest de- 
bauchery, from the half-idiotic king and his ministers 
down to the troops of fiddlers, dancing- girls, and 
mountebanks. The country was sick of them. Yet 
the dethroning of the whole royal race, the annexing 
of a whole kingdom with its revenues to the British 
crown, was an extreme, and, to say the least, a doubt- 
ful measure, according to the judgment of some of 
the ablest men in India. And to this was added the 
unwise treatment of the Thalookdars. These native 
aristocrats lived in their own feudal castles in the 
midst of the jungles, defended by their own guns and 
followers. They might have been gained to our side, 
but from some of our "hard and fast" red-tapeism 
they were turned against us, so that the kingdom of 
Oude was really in rebellion. The soldiers of the 
Bengal army were deeply affected by this ; for they 
were chiefly recruited from Oude, and all their rela- 
tives were there. 



CALCUTTA TO BENARES. 43 

But I will not dwell longer upon this subject at 
present. Other sides and features of the mutiny will 
fall to be considered as we proceed in our narrative. 
We must move on to AUahabad, Cawnpore, and 
Lucknow. 



/ 



CHAPTER IL 

FROM ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. 

To a European, the most attractive feature of Al- 
lahabad is the Fort. Its huge red sandstone walls 
and bastions rise with imposing effect from the angle 




FORT AT ALLAHABAD. 



of ground which, washed by the Jumna and Ganges, 
forms the terminating point of the district named the 
(44) 



ALLAHABAD TO LUG KNOW. 45 

Doab. This fort, it is said, was originally Hindoo. 
It may be so; but, beyond doubt, with the excep- 
tion of the last scientific touches given to it by the 
British, the great Akbar made it what it now is. He 
it was who reared its magnificent gateway, and great 
hall of audience within, both of which bear witness 
to the stateliness of his designs. 

The two most interesting sights within the fort 
are an underground temple, of vast antiquity, which 
we visited, and a lat or pillar of Asokas, erected three 
centuries before Christ, recording certain statutes in 
an old character of the ancient Pali language. 

But I confess that, during my brief visit to the 
North, my thoughts were wholly occupied by the 
events of the great mutiny of 1857, at least until I 
reached Agra and Delhi, whose magnificent archi- 
tectural remains in some degree broke the mesmeric 
influence of that stirring time. Many persons may 
very naturally suppose that these events are so fresh 
in the memory of our nation as to render any notice 
of them unnecessary; but we forget that since they 
took place there has risen up a generation who at 
that date were mere children, and who — as I have 
learned by several conversations on the subject — are 
singularly ignorant of the memorable events to which 
I allude. It therefore seems to me to be a duty im- 
posed upon those who, owing to exceptional circum- 
stances, are able to discharge it, to keep alive the 
knowledge of the sacrifices then made, the sufferings 



j(3 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

endured, and the brave deeds achieved by our coun- 
trymen ; and, more than all, to cause our people to 
remember what the great King of heaven and earth 
has done to prepare the way for the establishment in 
India of that " kingdom which cannot be moved." 

As our associations at Benares were gathered round 
General Neill, I could not but recall the only time I 
had ever seen him. It was at a meeting, I forget for 
what purpose, in the parish church of Dairy, Ayr- 
shire. Suddenly, at the conclusion of one of the 
speeches, he entered the church, and appeared on the 
platform. "My friends," he said, slowly and thought- 
fully, "I go to-morrow to join the Turkish Contingent, 
engaged in the Crimean war. I may never see you 
again. I have come here to-night to bid you farewell 
— to ask you not to forget me;" and then pausing for 
a little, he added in a quiet and solemn undertone, 
" and to ask you to pray for me." Before a word 
could be spoken out of the full hearts of his old 
friends he had bowed and departed. 

It was this man who saved Benares and Alla- 
habad. 

The mutiny had burst forth with unmistakable 
fury and strength at Meerut on the 10th of May, 
1857, when a general massacre of officers took place. 
I knew well the first who was cut down there ! He 
had just joined his regiment. With simple truth 
I write it, that he was at once the handsomest young 
man and the most beautiful — I can use no other 



ALLAHABAD TO LUC KNOW. 49 

word — I ever saw. He was a Christian, too, of the 
noblest mould, and altogether he was to me a very 
ideal in soul, spirit, and body. 

It was on the 3d of June that Neill arrived a 
Benares after the famous scene at the Howrah sta- 
tion of the Calcutta Railway, which has been already 
described. On the same day the last telegram had 
been flashed from the beleaguered force in Cawnpore. 
Benares, as my readers can now understand, was the 
very center of Brahminical influence. As with most 
other places in India at that awful time, there were 
but few Europeans in it, and the native troops had 
things all their own way. But Neill had pushed on, 
and arrived just in time — for details cannot be here 
given — to deal such a sudden and decided blow to 
the mutineers as saved the city. 

Eighty miles off, along the Ganges to the north, 
was the great fort of Allahabad. This was the king 
of the districts in revolt, the city of refuge for fugi- 
tives, the one rallying-place north of Calcutta. Let 
me try and give my readers some idea of the state of 
matters at this fort early in June. They may be 
briefly summarized : News from Meerut ; indefinite 
rumors filling people's minds with alarms ; the fort in 
possession of sixty invalided European artillerymen, 
with a wing of a treacherous native regiment and a 
Sikh regiment ready for royalty or plunder as it 
suited — Sir H. Lawrence having telegraphed not to 
trust them. Europeans, merchants, civilians, with 



50 DATS IIV NORTH INDIA. 

wives and children, enter the fort. False news from 
Benares on June 5th, which cast a gloom over all. 
On the 6th June, no outbreak, and people more 
cheerful. At six o'clock in the evening of that day 
a parade of the 6th Native Infantry, who were in 
cantonments about three miles from Allahabad. 
These gallant and loyal men, faithful among the 
faithless, with great enthusiasm had volunteered to 
march to Delhi and to fight with us ! Was it not 
noble of them? Their officers were justly proud; 
and so was government. A letter of thanks from the 
Governor-General was read to them on parade at six 
P.M., and the warm-hearted loyal men were very 
naturally gratified by this recognition of their serv- 
ices, and cheered loudly. The same evening these 
fine fellows broke out into mutiny, and in the mess- 
house of their regiment murdered in cold blood seven- 
teen officers, eight of whom were young cadets, who, 
just arrived from England, were full of life and hope! 
Some officers escaped, and two of them, after great 
exertions and long swims, managed to get into the 
fort. But before the morning of the 7th of June 
thirty-one Europeans, male and female, had been 
massacred. '^ Early in the morning the jail gates 
were thrown open, and 3000 ruffians and many thou^ 
sand miscreants from its wards, rushed eagerly to 
help in the deeds of that night. Soon the whole 
horizon looking north and west from the ramparts of 
the fort became one mass of flame and lurid smoke, 



ALLAHABAD TO LVCKNOW. 51 

from which issued the yells and shrieks of thousands 
of infuriated devils doing the work of plunder and 
rapine."* 

The learned American missionary, Dr. Owen, de- 
scribed to me his feelings as, from the ramparts, he 
saw his house and valuable library blazing in the 
distance ! 

Such was the state of things in and around Allaha- 
bad, the Fort of Refuge, on the 6th of June. All 
was darkness and desjDair! But next day fifty (only 
fifty!) of Neill's regiment, the '^Madras Lambs," 
arrived at the Benares end of the Bridsre of Boats, 
which was in possession of the enemy. These noble 
fellows, "by hook or by crook," had the previous 
night got over the eighty miles which separated 
them from Benares. Yet, owing to wretched bun- 
gling, it was not till the evening that they could be 
got into the fort. On the 9th another detachment 
arrived. Best of all, on the 11th Neill himself came 
into view. India was then a furnace. Men fell 
down with sunstroke. " Fancy me," he writes, 
" walking a mile through burning river sand ; it 
nearly killed me. I only lived by having water 
dashed over me. When I got into the open boat. 



* While writing this I have before me the documents regarding the 
mutiny, which were furnished to the Indian government by the authori- 
ties in the districts involved in the outbreak, and which were kindly 
given me. The reader is referred to Mr. Kaye's forthcoming volumes 
as presenting the fullest and most authentic account of this memorable 
time, 

5 



52 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

my umbrella was my only covering. Two of our 
lads died with sunstroke in the boat. That I escaped 
is one of the greatest mercies. The Europeans 
cheered me when I came in. The salute of the 
sentries at the gate was, ^ Thank you, sir,^ you'll save 
us yet.' " Neill was done up with the " terrific heat." 
He could not stand, but was obliged " to sit down at 
the batteries and give orders." But these orders were 
such as to clear the fort of all doubtful characters; 
the mutineers being beaten out of all their positions 
around it, the blessed telegraph could at length be 
flashed to Calcutta, "Allahabad is safe !" 

One very touching incident is recorded in the 
authentic documents from which I quote, and which 
though narrated before may be repeated. The Moul- 
vee or Mohammedan priest who had been at the 
head of the mutineers had fled, leaving behind in his 
terror a number of native Christians, who had been 
his prisoners. These were brought into the fort. 
"Among them was poor young Cheek, a cadet, who 
died the same evening, his body covered with wounds 
and sores, and his mind wandering. His sufferings 
from the night of the 6th must have been dreadful ; 
he had escaped with severe wounds from the mess- 
house, and was picked up by a zemindar, by whom 
he was given over to the Moulvee, in whose house 
he had remained exposed and uncared for until this 
time. Nauth Nundee, a native Christian and fellow- 
prisoner, relates that when the Moulvee sought by 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. 53 

threats and wiles to make him abjure -Christianity, 
this brave young officer would call out to him, ^ Never 
let go the fiiith!'" 

Neill was burning to reach Cawnpore. Tremen- 
dous difficulties were in the way. And as if to deepen 
the already dark tragedy of woe everywhere gather- 
ing over our countrymen, there now broke out the 
terrible cholera. On the 18th of June it appeared 
in Allahabad, and, when precious gold could not be 
weighed against more precious men, forty out of a 
hundred Fusileers were cut down! But detachment 
after detachment was gathering at the fort. Women 
and children were sent down by steamers to Benares. 
On the 30th of June General Neill was sending off a 
small force of four hundred of his noble Fusileers, four 
hundred and fifty native cavalry, Sikhs and Irregu- 
lars, to Cawnpore. Havelock had arrived at Allaha- 
bad on July 1. By the 7th he had started for Cawn- 
pore, and by the 15th he was followed by Neill. It 
was too late! 

Cawnpore ! How strange it seemed to hear that 
name bawled out as, just awakened out of sleep, we 
reached the city railway ! 

We drove through under the guidance of our good 
host, Mr. Lance. Nothing of any interest whatever 
is visible to the eye. The situation, dust excepted, 
is agreeable enough for a large military station, with 
comfortable bungalows ; broad, beautiful, and smooth 



54 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

drives ; ample means of recreation in assembly-rooms, 
clubs, theaters, race-courses; with all the driving to 
and fro, the making of calls, partaking of social enter- 
tainments, flirtations, gossip, and the et-caeteras of a 
civil and military society of English ladies and gentle- 
men . But were it not for the immortal associations of 
the mutiny, in which what is deepest and rarest in the 
British character came out, there is little in Cawnpore 
to arrest the attention of a traveler. Where once the 
desperate defense was made, he sees only a flat green 
or dusty plain ; where the awful slaughter-house 
stood, he sees a flower garden of beautiful roses ; the 
Ghat of the Massacre appears but a commonplace 
river -bank, with an insignificant- looking temple, 
washed by the kindly waters of the Ganges; and 
the well which includes the remains of those whose 
memory during this generation will sadden many an 
English home, looks only a nice bit of Gothic archi- 
tecture. 

But if with a fresh memory of that time, or with 
such an eloquent and exhaustive volume as that of 
Mr. Trevelyan, for example, one visits those never- 
to-be-fcrgotten places, then all is changed into a scene 
of intensest interest. 

A few facts may be recorded to revive in some 
degree the memory of that sad but glorious past, 
and of the price paid there and elsewhere for our 
possession of British India. 

Let the reader picture to himself a large open 



ALLAHABAD TO LUC KNOW. 



55 



space, perfectly flat, covered with dust, and sur- 
rounded by a parapet of earth about five feet high. 




MAP OF CAWXPORE. 



It was miserable shelter to those who worked guns 
with large embrasures ! At the end of this, in the 

5* 



55 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

open ground, was the only accessible well. The 
space contained also one-storied barracks, most of 
them thatched. The map will enable the reader 
to understand better than a mere verbal description 
the topography of the place. Within this field there 
were gathered together, on the 6th of June, 1857, 
seven hundred and fifty Europeans — men, women, 
and children. Of those, fiftj^-nine were artillerymen, 
one hundred and five infantry, including officers; but 
thirty of the privates were old invalids. They had 
six guns in position. Around them were, to begin 
with, four native regiments thoroughly drilled, and 
constantly augmented, with fourteen large guns, 
mortars, and as many more as they needed from 
our deserted magazine ! 

Can imagination conceive this British force main- 
taining their position for twenty days, amid an un- 
interrupted roar from heavy guns firing almost point- 
blank range, from mortars, and from riflemen filling 
all the neighboring buildings? Hospital stores were 
destroyed; houses set on fire, and many persons burnt 
to death ; not a drop of water was to be obtained 
except from one well in the open plain, upon which 
the fire of twenty marksmen was brought to bear. The 
dead were thrown into another well, because to bury 
them was impossible; one hundred at last were 
killed, and all the artillerymen among them ! Yet 
amid hourly horrors and suffering, that handful of 
heroes held out in the hope of obtaining relief! 



n 




ALLAHABAD TO LUG KNOW. 59 

On the 26th of June the Nana offered terms of 
surrender. This notoriously worthless character was 
the adopted son of the Peishwa of Poonah, to whom, 
as I formerly stated, Sir John Malcolm — after the 
Mahrattah had played the villain and had been well 
thrashed for it — gave a pension of £80,000 a year, 
with the fine property of Bithoor near Cawnpore. 
His adopted son, the said Nana, inherited all the 
Peishwa's property, and was allowed a guard of five 
hundred cavalry to give him state ; but he was re- 
fused the immense pension which had been granted 
to the Peishwa. This rankled in his breast. He 
was surrounded by men like-minded with himself — 
such men as Tantia Topee, Azim Moolah, the oily 
Mohammedan who, serpent-like, basked in English 
society, visited the Crimea, and is well described by 
" Russell of the Times" who met him there. 

In utter .despair, dying day by day, the garrison 
capitulated on being promised by the Nana a safe 
conduct by boat to Allahabad. 

Let the reader now look at the illustration of the 
Ghat of the Massacre. The water is the Ganges, the 
building is a small Hindoo temple. Above the steep 
banks descending to the Ganges is a flat space of 
ground, and rising above it again is an inclosure, 
within which was a village. This spot is about a 
mile from the place where our people were intrenched. 
A narrow and rough kind of ravine for about a third 
of the way leads to the ghat. Down this ravine all 



50 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

that noble band slowly streamed on the 27th of June 
— sick and wounded, soldiers and officers under arms, 
long lines of women and children, pallid and care- 
worn, yet thankful for any hope of deliverance. 
Twenty huge boats, each some tAventy feet long and 
twelve feet broad, with thatched poops, were ranged 
along that bank to convey them down the stream to 
Allahabad. Ten thousand people from Cawnpore had 
gathered to see this long and grand procession, and 
to witness the embarkation of the wonderful people 
who had fought with such courage, and endured with 
such resolution. When they were well into the 
ravine, high banks rising up on either side, cavalry 
were drawn up across the rear, Tantia Topee and 
his select friends watching the whole scene from the 
temple. When all were entrapped and the boats 
crowded, the signal was given, and the thatched 
roofs of the boats set on fire. With the exception of 
three, the boats were immovably aground ; and the 
boatmen, after setting them ablaze, leaped on shore. 
Then a tremendous musketry fire opened from hun- 
dreds who had till now been carefully concealed in 
the ground above. Guns roared from the opposite 
shore, from the temple, from the banks. Everywhere 
massacre! Struggles, blood, wounds, flame, smoke, 
drowning, screaming, and wild and indescribable hor- 
ror of horrors ! In vain two or three boats make off; 
in vain men swim or fight for their lives. Except two 
or three who escaped as by miracle, all the men were 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. gl 

slain. Old Sir Hugh was cut down among the first 
as he was getting out of his palanquin. Wet, wounded, 
and bleeding, upwards of one hundred women and chil- 
dren were brought back to Cawnpore and locked up 
till wanted! 

They were shortly after joined by the separate 
bands of fugitives from Futtyghur, about sixty miles 
farther up the river. A magnificent defense had 
been made there, also against overwhelming num- 
bers, by about thirty men, who protected seventy or 
eighty women and children in a ruined fort, which 
they were forced to abandon. They tried by boats 
to reach Allahabad, but were made prisoners by the 
Nana's troops. All the men were butchered by him; 
while the women and children were added to the 
number already in the house at Cawnpore! There, 
in two rooms, twenty feet by ten, two hundred and 
six European ladies and children were for a fortnight 
pent up during the burning heat of an Eastern 
summer. 

Havelock had started from Allahabad on the 6th 
July. Battle after battle had been fought until he 
entered Cawnpore on the 17th. But there was not 
a person from his suffering countrymen alive to re- 
ceive him ! He and his noble troops were received 
apparently with joy by the inhabitants of Cawnpore, 
who had grievously suffered at the hands of the 
rebellious soldiers. They gazed with wonder on the 
ruined in trench ments; but no English voice greeted 



62 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



them. Two days before, all had been massacred, 
and, whether alive or dead, hurled into the well, 
which has ever since been almost a holy place in our 




MEMORIAL WELL, CAWNPORE. 



memories. A beautiful garden grows its roses and 
other flowers where that awful slaughter-house once 
stood. The well has been covered by the adorn- 
ments of architecture, a white marble angel of peace, 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. 



63 



by Marochetti, standing over it, and around it a pro- 
tecting; wall of Gothic desio;n. 



S: 




^hs 





MEMORIAL WELL, WITH CHURCH IN DISTANCE. 

The agents in that fearful tragedy have, I believe, 
gone to their account. The butchers who were per- 
sonally engaged in it were all discovered and exe- 
cuted. I saw the spot near the ravine, where the 
last had been hanged. Tantia Topee, after a long 
chase of months, w^as at last run down, and hanged 
by Sir Hugh Rose. The Nana and his immediate 
followers have beyond doubt died ere now, though 
they were never betrayed — to the credit, so f^ir, of the 
people. When last heard of, years ago, they were 
wandering in terror among the jungles and forests 
of Nepaul. We dare not too severely condemn our 
troops as blood-thirsty or cruel for the terrible 
vengeance which they took when any opportunity 



54 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

offered itself of doing so, and when all the falsehoods 
were believed regarding the treatment of the women 
and children. The sight of that bloody house and 
awful well fired them with a maddening passion. 
All natives were alike in their eyes. In each they 
recognized the Nana, one who had been guilty of 
atrocities which intensified the wickedness of the 
most wicked. 

But in order, as far as our public influence extends, 
to mitigate the effects of that awful time in widening 
the breach already so greatly to be lamented, between 
us and our fellow-citizens in India, let us join in pub- 
licly confessing, with shame and sorrow, the wild 
and indiscriminate slaughter and execution perpe- 
trated afterward in cooler blood, when Christian gen- 
tlemen murdered ^'Pandies" in a spirit which sunk 
them below the level of their enemies. We have 
not come out of the mutiny with clean hands. In 
many things, both before and after it, we have been 
grievously to blame. Many a story is doubtless told 
in the bazaars that would make us blush if we heard 
it, and make us feel that it might be fitting for us to 
ask forgiveness as well as to extend it. If we and 
the natives have endured common sufferings, we have 
been guilty of common sins. It should also be known 
to our countrymen, what was ascertained shortly 
after the mutiny, and has been confirmed since by 
the most careful investigations on the part of the 
India government, and often before now published, — 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. ^5 

that there never has been substaiitiated any ca^es of muti- 
lation, or torture, or the dishonor of any \ooman ; that 
the horrors of Cawnpore were the work of the Nana 
only and his vile adherents; that even his soldiers re- 
fused to massacre the women and children, which was 
accomplished by the vilest of the vile in the city. We 
would remember also that while the natives cannot 
be expected to love the English, but naturally to 
dislike them as aliens in race and religion, with 
whom as a race there can be no real sympathy, nor 
bonds of anything like personal attachment, yet that 
all the most influential classes who had anything to 
lose generally sided with us, and very many even in 
the darkest hour lent us their valuable aid. We may 
have an underlying impression of the evil done to us, 
but let us not add, " by the natives," from a hasty 
generalization, nor darken the picture by more som- 
ber colors than those warranted by fact. And above 
all, let our people in India, more especially young 
officers, by all that is truly brave and generous, en- 
deavor to heal this grievous wound, and so impress 
the natives by the force of their character as well as 
by the power of their arms, that the Hindoos may 
one day thank God for the supremacy of Great 
Britain. 

I visited the grave-yards in Cawnpore containing 
" our English dead :" a new one in the Park, and an 
old one, large and full of tombs, in another quarter. 
Those burial-places in India were always to me pe- 

6 



gg DAYS IN NORTH INDIA, 

culiarly sad. One felt as if some wrong had been 
done toward every one who Lay there, or that some 
peculiar suffering had been endured by them. Why 
were they not beside their own people at home? 
There is no grave here where a family reposes. 
Children are here, but their parents and brothers 
and sisters are far away. Young soldiers and old 
veterans are here, men who had just come to India 
full of hope and ambition, and those who, after a life 
of toil, were just about to leave it to spend the even- 
ing of their days elsewhere. Alone they had lived 
in a strange land, and alone had died. No one had 
been there to speak to them of the old familiar faces, 
nor to understand their " babbling about the green 
fields," in their dreams of the far-off home. Alone 
they were buried, with no kith or kin to follow their 
bier, or "fathers" to whom they could be ''gathered." 
Alone they were left by all who knew them, to be 
utterly forgotten in the land of their sojourning. 
Every grave seems a record of long-cherished hopes 
never realized, and of an unexpected and premature 
sorrow endured by those who for years were antici- 
pating the joy of bidding them welcome home again. 
But there were some graves I visited which will 
not readily pass into oblivion either in India or Eng- 
land. Chief among these was that of the gallant 
Peel. With deep interest I stood beside his tomb 
and read the inscription — " To the memory of Wil- 
liam Peel. His name will be dear to the British 



ALLAHABAD TO LUGKNOW. gj 

inhabitants of India, to whose succor he came in the 
hour of need. He was one of Enghind's most de- 
voted sons. With all the talents of a brave and 
skillful sailor, he combined the virtues of a humble, 
sincere Christian. This stone is erected over his re- 
mains by his military friends in India, and several of 
the inhabitants of Calcutta. Captain Sir William 
Peel, R.N., K.C.B , was born in Stanhope Street, 
Mayfair, on the 2d Nov. 1824, and died at Cawn- 
pore, 27th April, 1858." 

I saw another grave, which recorded the death of 
one whom I knew and loved. He was an officer of 
the 78th, and a young man of great promise. The 
call to arms found him in infirm health, at home 
with his wife and family. But full of spirit and pre- 
pared to die, he promptly responded to the summons. 
He fought his way with Havelock to Cawnpore, and 
on the day when he would have got his company 
and the Victoria Cross he died. 

There is also a small monumental cross with this 
inscription, " In memory of the women and children 
of H. M. 32d Regiment who were slaughtered near 
this spot. This memorial was raised by twenty men 
of the same regiment who were passing through 
Cawnpore, Nov. 21, 1857." 

But we must on to Lucknow! It is only thirty 
miles from Cawnpore. A railway connects the two 
cities. Lucknow is not, like Benares, Allahabad, 



68 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



and Cawnpore, on the banks of the Ganges; but is 
inland to the east, at right angles to the river. The 




MAP OF LUCKNOTV. 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. (39 

defense of the Residency is another Thermopylae — 
for there are several in our history! It is situated 
on the Goomty River, about thirty miles east of 
Cawnpore and the Ganges. The Ganges is crossed 
by a long bridge of boats, and beyond is a dead flat. 
Among the first places seen which call up past mem- 
ories, is the Alumbagh, with the small obelisk 
marking Havelock's grave. 

We drove through the principal portions of the 
city; saw the spots famous in the two "advances;" 
paused at the arch beside which Neill was shot; 
ascended the roof of one of the palaces, and enjoyed 
a splendid bird's-eye view of the city. We noticed 
with deepest interest the " Martiniere," " Secunder- 
bagh," "Mess House," and other monuments of the 
fierce fighting and splendid victories of the forlorn 
hope when delivering the long-besieged garrison. 
But to give the reader some idea of Lucknow, and 
of, to us, the most famous and interesting time in its 
history, let me as briefly as possible explain the 
illustrations which accompany this chapter. 

Look first at the Kaiser Bagh, or palace of the 
deposed king. The view is a distant one, but it 
gives some idea of the imposing appearance of Luck- 
now. There is no other city in India so striking. 
It is not an Oriental city like Benares ; but is rather 
of a European, or a sort of Parisian-Mohammedan 
type. From a distance it looks magnificent, not- 
withstanding that a great portion of it has been de- 

6* 



70 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



stroyed since the mutiny. The Residency, itself a 
striking object once, is now in ruins. But before the 




THE RESIDENCY, LUCKNOW — EAST ERONT. 

revolt the city must have stood alone in India, and 
even in the whole East, alike for brilliancy and 
beauty, — its domes, minarets, and palaces being re- 
lieved by trees and partially broken, picturesque 
ground, such as is rarely found in the dusty plains 
of Hindostan. But while its palaces looked mag- 
nificent, yet a narrower inspection revealed some- 
thing flimsy about their architecture. There is a 
"get up," a theatrical unreality about them in spite 
of their wide courts, colonnades, and domes, their 
gilding, and orange groves, such as one sees in the 
Kaiser Bagh. I felt that they did dream "of a 
perishable home who thus could build." The history 
of the possessors and inhabitants of many of these 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. 73 

splendid palaces would cause a blush to rise on the 
hard cheek of many a criminal at our bar. As one 
walked through the courts within courts of the 
Kaiser Bagh, there were other things of more im- 
portance than architecture to fill one's mind, and to 
shed a light on the history of the place. There 
existed not on earth a house of greater moral degra- 
dation than this! The palaces of Lucknow and 
Delhi were the Sodom and Gomorrah of India, and 
both have been utterly overthrown, never more to 
rise. " The king," wrote Sir William Sleeman long 
before the mutiny, '^is surrounded exclusively by 
eunuchs, fiddlers, and poetasters worse than either; 
and the minister and his creatures worse than all. 
They appropriate to themselves at least one-half of 
the revenues of the country, and employ nothing but 
knaves of the very lowest kind in all the branches of 
the administration. The king is a crazy imbecile." 

Let us now have a look at the "Eesidency," the 
home of each succeeding representative of Great 
Britain. It included a large portion of ground, with 
various buildings, such as a large banqueting-hall, 
guard-houses, and several official residences, grouped 
around the main buildings; with open spaces be- 
tween, lawns, flower-gardens, etc. The Residency 
itself was situated on a rising ground, if a few yards 
above the plain can be so described. 

The Europeans in Lucknow had the advantage of 
having in command one of the most sagacious, far- 



74 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

sighted, and noble of men — Sir Henry Lawrence. 
He was fully prepared for the revolt long before it 
broke out, with marvelous sagacity taking in the 
probable future. He had kept hundreds day and 
night employed in throwing up such defenses as 
could be extemporized within a few weeks, in order 
that guns might be placed in the best possible posi- 
tion. He had also laid in such stores of every kind 
of provision for man and beast, as well as of every 
kind of shot and shell for such men and beasts as 
might be opposed to him, as presented a remarkable 
contrast to poor Cawnpore. So large was the quan- 
tity of ammunition in store that they never ran short 
even after having retired from the Muchee Bhowun 
and blowing it up with two hundred and fifty barrels 
of gunpowder! 

A few dates and facts will suffice to enable the 
reader to follow our illustrations with more interest. 

On May 30 the native troops revolted. There 
was at the cantonments the usual surprise, firings, 
charging, cutting down, on both sides, with splendid 
gallantry on the part of our officers, and all the ex- 
citing incidents of such horrible melees. After the 
disastrous battle of Chinhut, on 30th June, with a 
loss of two hundred men, our people were shut up 
and besieged in the Residency. There they remained 
till November 26th, bombarded every night by tens 
of thousands of native troops, who held the city and 
occupied the surrounding buildings, — firing eighteen- 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. 75 

pounders within one hundred and fifty yards of the 
defenses; and all this during the hottest months of 
an Indian climate. The ladies were crowded into 
small rooms; huddled together in cellars to escape 
shot and shell; deserted by native servants, and 
obliged to wash and cook ; to watch sick children 
and sick friends; to prepare meat and drink for 
those working in the batteries; to come into daily 
and almost hourly contact with disease and death 
and suffering in every form ; to hear the incessant 
roar of guns and musketry; and to be prepared for 
the bursting of a shell or the crash of a cannon-ball 
at any moment in their place of retreat. What the 
nervous system of those thus exposed during these 
six months suffered, none but they who have endured 
the like can conceive. 

After losing upwards of five hundred men on his 
march from Cawnpore, and fighting for four days 
through the streets of Lucknow, Havelock with his 
first relief reached the Residency on the 30th Sep- 
tember. Food dia not increase with the numbers 
requiring it. But the garrison, though more strait- 
ened, was so strengthened as to be able to extend its 
intrenchments so as to include about two miles. 
The original garrison included, as Mr. Gubbins in- 
forms us, 1692 fighting men. Of these 987 were 
Europeans and 705 natives. There remained of the 
original garrison when relieved a total, including sick 
and wounded, of 350 Europeans and 133 natives — 



<7g DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

23 of whom had deserted from the original number — 
41 military, 2 civil officers, and 1 chaplain had been 
killed. Early in September, before Havelock reached 
the Residency, there were in it 220 women, 230 
children, and 120 sick and wounded. 

Such facts give interest to our illustrations of the 
Residency. But let us look at them in detail. The 
first we select is " The Bailey Guard," so called, I 
believe, from an officer of that name who once com- 
manded it. 

The reader will notice first, the arch, or gateway 
of the place. Through it many a famous man has 
passed ; among others, in those fighting days. Sir 
Henry Lawrence, Sir Henry Havelock, Sir James 
Outram, Lord Clyde, and General Neill. And through 
it too passed the stream of men, women, and children 
in solemn silence, when at midnight they left that 
terrible Egypt in which they had so long suffered. 
Every side of that arch is yet dotted by shot, mark- 
ing the pitiless hail which for months had battered 
it from the houses now cleared away, and which once 
crowded the now bare and unpeopled plain. 

At this arch also Outram dismounted on that 
joyous day in September, when the first relief and 
hopes of final deliverance came ; and the first com- 
munications were received for a space of 113 days 
from the outer world of India and of Europe — when, 
as described by the ^^ Staff Officer," "the garrison's 
long pent-up feelings of anxiety and of suspense burst 



ALLAHABAD TO LDGKNOW. 79 

forth in a succession of deafening cheers. From every 
pit, trench, and battery — from behind the sand-bags 
piled on shattered houses — from every part still held 
by a few gallant spirits rose cheer on cheer — cheers 
even rising from the hospital ! Many of the wounded 
crawled forth to join in that glad shout of welcome to 
those who had so bravely come to our assistance. It 
was a moment never to be forgotton !" 

Look again at this illustration. To the left of the 
arch, and beyond it, from the point of view we oc- 
cupy, are seen the ruins of Dr. Fayrer's house. To 
this the Highlanders had pressed on, heated, worn, 
and dusty — for here General Outram had taken up 
his quarters. Mr. Gubbins, who witnessed the scene, 
says, " Nothing could exceed their enthusiasm. They 
stopped every one they met, with repeated questions 
and exclamations of ^Are you one of them? — God 
bless you!' — 'We thought to have found only your 
bones!' At Dr. Fayrer's house a scene of thrilling 
interest presented itself. The ladies of the garrison, 
with their children had assembled, in the most in- 
tense anxiety and excitement, under the j)orch out- 
side when the Highlanders approached. Rushing 
forward, the rough, bearded warriors shook the ladies 
by the hand, amid loud and repeated gratulations. 
They took the children up in their arms, they fondly 
caressed them, and passed them on from one to 
another to be caressed in turn; and then, when the 
first burst of excitement and enthusiasm was over, 



gQ DAYS JN NORTH INDIA. 

they mournfully turned to speak to each other of the 
heavy loss which they had suffered, and to inquire 
the names of the numerous comrades who had fallen 
by the way. It is quite impossible to describe the 
scene within the intrenchment that evening." 

What a contrast to the awful silence of Cawn- 
pore! 

A very different scene had been witnessed under 
the veranda of that same house in July — for there 
Sir Heory Lawrence had expired.* Often had he 
been found alone iii prayer during these weeks of 
anxiety. God's strength only could have sustained 
him amid weakness of body and overexertion of 
mind. He died (July 4) a few days after being 
struck with a shell which burst into his room. The 
last scene has been thus described: 

" First of allj he asked Mr. Harris, the chaplain, to 
administer the Holy Communion to him. In the 
open veranda, exposed to a heavy fire of musketry, 
the solemn service was performed, many officers of 
the garrison tearfully communicating with their be- 
loved chief. This done, he addressed himself to those 
about him. 'He bade an affectionate farewell to 
all,' wrote one who was present at this sad and 
solemn meeting, ' and of several he asked forgive- 
ness for having at times spoken harshly, and begged 



* His life, with that of Neill and others, was given by Mr. Kaye in 
Good Words for 1866, and is reprinted in his delightful volumes of " Lives 
of Indian Officers," which should be in every library. 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. gl 

them to kiss him. One or two were quite young 
boys, with whom he had occasion to find fault, in the 
course of duty, a few days previously. He expressed 
the deepest humihty and repentance for his sins, and 
his firm trust in our blessed Saviour's atonement, 
and spoke most toucliingly of his dear wife, whom 
he hoped to rejoin. At the utterance of her name 
his feelings quite overcame him, and he burst into 
an uncontrollable fit of weeping, which lasted some 
minutes. He again completely broke down in speak- 
ing of his daughter, to whom he sent his love and 
blessing. . . . Then he blessed his nephew George, 
who was kneeling by his bedside, and told him he 
had always loved him as his own son. . . . He spoke 
to several present about the state of their souls, urging 
them to pray and read their Bibles, and endeavor to 
prepare for death, which might come suddenly, as in 
his own case. To nearly each person present he 
addressed a few parting words of affectionate advice 
— words which must have sunk deeply into all hearts. 
Tliere was not a dry eye there, and many seemingly 
hard rough men were sobbing like children.' He 
told his chaplain that he wished to be buried very 
privatelj^, 'without any fuss,' in the same grave with 
any men of the garrison who might die about the 
same time. Then he said, speaking rather to himself 
than to those about him, of his epitaph, — 'Here lies 
Henry Laicrence, lolio tried to do Ms duty. May God 



82 



DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 



liave mercy upon him' And such is the simple 
epitaph which is inscribed upon his tomb."* 

But I must ask my readers to look once more at 
the illustration of the "Bailey Guard" — at that 
portion of it to the right of the archway. 



" Here/' 




GRAVE OF LAWRENCE. 



writes Mr. Trevelyan, " from summer into winter, 
until of his 200 musketeers he had buried 85, and 
sent to hospital 76 ; earning his Cross in ragged 
flannel trousers and a jersey of dubious hue, burly 
Bob Aitken bore the unequal fray." I had the happi- 
ness of meeting my brave countryman, Major Aitken. 
at Lucknow. He told me these interesting facts : 
The Native Brigade, then in Lucknow, consisted of 

■5^ I had the privilege, when in Calcutta, of making Dr. Fayrer's 
acquintance, and of receiving from him much kindness. No man is 
more respected, nor occupies a more distinguished position as a medical 
man. I asked his friends what honors and rewards he had received from 
government for his services in the Eesidency. In this, as in too many 
similar cases, I received no satisfactory reply. 



ALLAHABAD TO LUC KNOW. §3 

the loth, 14th, and 71st Regiments. In this brigade 
there was only one native office)- who joined the 
mutineers. In the loth Regiment, 230 men volun- 
teered to defend the Residency, while the remaining 
750 continued faithful to us so far that they did not 
turn against us. All the native officers of the loth 
Native Infantry were killed or wounded in the de- 
fense of the Residency; out of 220 men of the same 
regiment, 06 were jSiklis, of whom 18 deserted; out 
of 184 Hindosfames, 1 only deserted. Of all who 
defended us, 155 were either killed or wounded. 
During the whole time of the siege this guard-house, 
on to the arch, was defended by Major Aitken him- 
self and his native soldiers alone, who stood firm 
in sj^ite of the taunts and temptations of their coun- 
trymen, when we were in extremes. The low wall 
connecting the guard-house with the archway shows 
how slight was its defense ; while the innumerable 
marks of shot on every spot that could be hit in the 
several rooms of the guard-house reveal the fierce de- 
termination both of the attack and the defense. But 
over that parapet wall the enemy never ventured. 
The well-served guns from its embrasures, and the 
steady rifles behind them, kept the foe at a safe dis- 
tance under cover. Such facts as these ought to be 
recorded to the credit of the native soldiers. Many 
others of a like kind might be mentioned. 

Let us now take another glance at the Residency, 
by aid of the illustration, in which the ruined ban- 



34 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

queting-hall is the most prominent feature. During 
the siege that ban queting-hall, where the loud talk 
and mirth of the conquering race had once resounded, 
was the hospital of the garrison — the house of much 
pain, of many thoughts, and many sorrows. Here, 
too, Death banqueted on many a brave soldier and 
tender child. 

Both it and the once handsome Kesidency, as will 
be seen, are now in ruins. For when the natives got 
possession of the place, and before it was reoccupied 
and restored to order by the British force, it had been 
all destroyed. 

And now within these famous lines of defense all 
is swept bare with the exception of what is seen in 
our illustration. Great care has been taken to indi- 
cate the several famous spots — " The Cawnpore Bat- 
tery," "The Redan Battery," "The site of Mr. Gub- 
bins's House," "Dr. Fayrer's House, "Here Sir Henry 
Lawrence died," are all legibly inscribed on tablets, 
so that the stranger hardly requires a guide. 

The last spot visited by the traveler will probably 
be the church-yard. There he will gaze in silence 
and with veneration on the tombs of Lawrence, Neill, 
and many others who " waxed valiant in fight and 
turned to flight the armies of the aliens," and who 
there lie " in the field of their fame." It is a most 
touching spot. The silence, with the hum of the 
distant city, like the murmur of a mountain-bee, 
contrasts strikingly with the roar of battle amid 



ALLAHABAD TO LUC KNOW. S7 

which all these heroes died and had been buried. 
Few nations have been so privileged to record with 
truth the "Christian" virtues of their heroes slain in 
battle as we have been, on the tombs of such men as 
Neill, Lawrence. Peel, and Havelock. And these 
represent not a few of the same high character, of 
whom we can say — " Their very dust to us is dear!" 
Like the remains of Joseph, they seem to me to have 
already taken possession of a promised land over 
which the living God wall yet reign. 

I was struck by the memorials to some distin- 
guished regiments, and by the absence of any me- 
morial to others who deserved to be remembered. 
There are monuments erected to their comrades by 
the Madras Fusiliers, the 84th, the 5th Fusiliers, the 
90th, and also by the Native Bengal Artillery, the 
loth Bengal Native Infantry; but, strange to say, 
I saw none to the 78th either here or at Cawnpore! 

One other scene is connected with the ilkistration 
now before us. On the summit of the rising bank 
which connects the plain with the slightly elevated 
plateau on which the Residency is built. Sir John 
Lawrence, as Viceroy, erected his chair of state and 
held a great durbar, at which the Thalookdars, or 
feudal chiefs of Oudh, gave in their public adherence 
to the British government. 

It was one of those displays which arrest the 
senses of the spectator. Here was represented the 
quiet strength, the beautiful order and discipline of 



gg DAYS IiV NORTH INDIA. 

the various branches of our army — cavalry, infantry, 
and artillery— each soldier of the force suggesting 
thoughts of indomitable daring Avith which India 
had become acquainted, and at no ^olace more so 
than at Lucknow. Here too the great lords and 
captains of Oudh passed slowly before the Viceroy, 
with six hundred magnificent elephants splendidly 
caparisoned, accompanied by their picturesque re- 
tainers, all glittering with gems, and arrayed in robes 
of many colors, made of gorgeous fabrics from the 
looms of Benares. It was a grand spectacle ! Yet 
there was little in it to gratify the heart. In that 
wonderful procession there were some men indeed 
who, at considerable difficulty and risk, stood by us 
during our time of need, and sheltered our country- 
men when, maimed and wounded, they cast them- 
selves upon their protection. There were also not a 
few who had wavered and hung back, until they 
could discover on which side the hangman was. 
There were some too who never "had been friendly, 
but had yielded themselves to our power from neces- 
sity. All, I believe, were thankful for their restored 
lands, and the hope of British protection to enable 
them to enjoy themselves while obedient. But there 
was not one there who loved us for our own sake ; — 
not one who would not have preferred a native rule 
to ours even with tolerahle protection of life and prop- 
erty; not one who did not regret the unrighteous 
destruction of the kingdom of Oudh, and would not 



ALLAHABAD TO LUCKNOW. 89 

have preferred its reformation, even under British 
coercion and protection. They gave in their submis- 
sion to our government as a necessity with a smile, a 
shrug, or a scoavI. Nothing corresponding to a British 
cheer could have burst from that native c:atherin<2: ! 
Nor was there any love lost on our part. The highest 
feeling prevalent was, I doubt not, a sincere desire to 
do unswerving justice to all — to protect all — curb all, 
and, as far as government could accomplish this, to 
regenerate and civilize the whole country. But that 
procession was seen b}^ us — how could it be else? — 
through the mist of all the treachery and horrors of 
the mutiny. Time, however, will gradually harmonize 
those feelings into a mutual confidence. " Forget 
and forgive" will acquire ascendency on both sides. 
Desires for mutual considerateness, stimulated by a 
sense of common wrong-doing, and of common suf- 
fering, must grow in the hearts of both, and from 
these, again, must spring a hearty co-operation in ad- 
vancing the common good of the country. Education 
and Christianity, under a civilized government, will 
yet regenerate Oudh. Our injustice to it has visited 
many good and true with suffering and death. Its 
own wickedness has annihilated its independence. 
But able and trustworthy natives — for there are 
such — will henceforth unite with able and trust- 
worthy Europeans in administering affairs wisely and 
well for the gootl of the millions who occupy its mag- 
nificent plains. 



90 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

But when the Yiceroy sat in that chair of state on 
the green slope beneath the Residency, and beheld 
this recognition of British power by those Avho a few 
years before could have gained thousands of pounds 
by affording protection even in a stable to English 
gentlemen and ladies wandering in terror with their 
babes; — what must his thoughts have been, as he 
remembered that close beside him that noble brother 
slept "who tried to do his duty," — how well, and 
how grandly, he succeeded, the spectacle before him 
testified. 

Not undesigned was the Viceroy's choice of this 
spot, beneath the shadow of the Residency and of its 
grave-yard, for the scene we have described. There 
was a silent sympathy which connected the brother 
on his throne with the brother near him in his grave. 
The living said to the dead, " Thou hast not died in 
vain ! I am here, because thou art there, and we are 
one in spirit, in life and in death, for I, too, like thee, 
will try to do my duty." England confesses with 
gratitude that both have done so. 



CHAPTER III. 



FROM LUCKNOW TO AGRA. 



Believing as I do that it is difficult to exaggerate 
the importance of the Indian mutiny — the magnitude 
of the sufferings patiently endured, or the deeds of 
heroism nobly performed; and being convinced of 
the ignorance which still exists at home regarding 
those events which once ''made the boldest hold 
their breath for a time," — I shall linger for a few 
minutes longer amid the ruins of the Lucknow Resi- 
dency, and the empty, silent courts of the Kaiser 
Bagh, to record a lesson or two of suffering, that may 
possibly deepen our sense of responsibility toward 
India. 

I have now before me a diary kept in the Resi- 
dency, by a lady, during the whole six months of 
the siege. Her husband and two children were shut 
up with her. His name, could I take the liberty of 
mentioning it, would recall to many of my readers 
those days of suffering during the disastrous retreat 
of our troops through the Kyber Pass, in which he 
bore a distinguished part. The most striking feature 
of this diary is its terrible sameness! Day by day, 

(91) 



92 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

night after night, there is the same awful record of 
ceaseless roaring of artillery, and bursting of shells — 
of sudden attacks bravely resisted — of desperate 
sallies successfully made — of mines met by counter- 
mines — of deaths and midnight funerals — and of sore 
wounds and the sudden destruction of some beloved 
one by shot or shell. In reading such narratives — 
and how many were furnished by the year 1857 
from Northern India! — we feel as if we never knew 
human nature before, nor comprehended how it is 
capable of enduring for weeks and months, slow 
agonies that might seem sufficient in a single night 
to extinguish in most people reason, if not life itself. 

Here are the rapid pencil jottings of two Sundays 
in the same month : 

Sunday No. 1. — "An attack near the European hos- 
pital during the night, but comparatively quiet here; 
the enemy unsuccessful. Three round shot came 
through the dome of drawing-room this morning. 
This is fearfully near, and makes us feel more and 
more that we know not when the day and hour of 
our call may come. May a Father in heaven have 
mercy on us I for his dear Son's sake make us ready ! 
Mr. A., 7th Cavalry, shot dead, looking out from the 
Cawnpore battery, and Mr. H. had his leg broken 
from a round shot hitting a table, the leg of which 
broke his. Round shot of seven and nine pounds 
through the dome. During the night a screen made 
to protect from musketry at an exposed corner. Mr. 



LUC KNOW TO AGRA. 93 

Gubbins read the service about three r.M. Mr. Pole- 
hampton, our chaplain, feared to be dying of cholera, 
at the European hospital, where he and Mrs. P. have 
been living for some time, doing much good." 

Sunday No. 2.—" Poor Mrs. G.'s boy ill all night; 
no hope of him. Her other two children brought up- 
stairs to be taken care of. I w^atched from twelve to 
two, and then for two hours ; poor baby seemed in 
such pain nothing would pacify him — Mrs. B. so kind 
in helping me to do so; poor William, much dis- 
turbed of course ; thank God, he w^as easy wdien he 
woke after a short sleep about daybreak ; M. A. very 
restless and fretful. Dr. P. says it is from want of 
fresh air. Captain H. so good in nursing; Mrs. G. 
sent both my women to help him as I could not go. 
Messenger arrived with a letter for Mr. Gubbins, 
which, however, was taken hy order at once to Briga- 
dier Inglis, saying the relieving force was at Ounama, 
first march from Cawnpore, which was left in charge 
of a regiment intrenched, after complete victory. 
They had force for any opposition they might meet 
in coming here, and hoped to arrive in four or five 
days. May God prosper them ! The man who 
brought the letter has seen the general, and said he 
was little, with white hair, supposed to be General 
TIavelock. Mr Gubbins read service after break- 
fast; an unusually quiet day! Mrs. G. rallying; 
hopes of her recovery. Mr. L. killed in the Cawn- 
pore battery this afternoon, leaving a young widow 



94 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

and child. They are at Mrs. . M. A. very fever- 
ish and heavy; baby a shade better; quite tired out, 
obliged to go to bed early; aroused at ten p.m. by 
sharp firing — an attack, but mercifully unsuccessful, 

and over in half an hour ; but Mr. killed, and 

it is feared by our own men in cross fire. Fires in 
several rooms to try and purify the air." 

Such were their Sundays of Rest ! 

Here, again, are the diaries of two successive week- 
days : 

'^ Tuesday, 21st. — About twelve, two round shot 
struck the house, and, from fear of others, the ladies 
and children moved to the dining-room — Mr. L. firing 
shrapnel to try and silence one of the enemy's guns 
which they have brought to bear on the front of the 
house. A European shot dead ; another wounded. 
Good, kind Major Banks shot dead through his 
temples ! I had just been helping their good nurse 
to prepare his body for /^er to see it, and had been 
through the sad scene with 7ie7% when soon after Mrs. 
A. told me that my own W. [her husband] was 
wounded. When I got to him he was lying on a 
couch very faint, with Dr. Fayrer examining and 
dressing his wound. A rifle-ball had passed through 
his body. God bless the doctor for his kindness. He 
assured me it was not dangerous. We are in God's 
hands. Lord, I believe, help my unbelief! I am 
thankful I can attend to him myself. He is in great 
pain. From my heart I grieve for poor Mrs. Banks ! 



LUC KNOW TO AGRA. 95 

She has lost the one that was everything to her — 
and their darling little girl! More barricades just 
outside. Some of the mutineers seem moving in 
bodies to-day. 

"Wednesday, 22d. — A wakeful watching night! 
Dear W. in much pain — better, thank God, toward 
morning. The ladies from the other side of the 
house obliged to remove and go down-stairs. We 
were busy removing the gentlemen's things, Mrs. 
Dorin* assisting. When at the door leading from 
her room to the dining-room a matchlock-ball struck 
her on the face, and she immediately expired while 
I was looking at her and calling for a doctor! It was 
very awful. I had peculiar cause to think her kind 
and obliging, for she did much for me and mine. 
The enemy have moved to-day, but we know not 
where." 

Many other extracts might be given; but I must 
refrain, only adding for the satisfaction of my readers, 
that the writer's husband and children escaped. 

But there is one of many stories of suffering now 
before me, which I shall narrate, even although my 
space will not admit of my doing so in any other 
than the most abbreviated form. 

Captain Orr, First Assistant Commissioner, com- 
manded the native troops in Oude before its annexa- 

* She was one who had escaped from the massacre at Seetapore 
the month hefore, when Mr. and Mrs. Christian, with others, were 
killed. 

8 



95 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

tion, and was liked by his men. He and Mrs. Orr, 
with their child Louisa, were at a station in Oude, 
about ninety miles north of Lucknow. It is called 
Mohumdee, and Mr. Thomason was Deputy Com- 
missioner. The native troops rose upon the Eu- 
ropeans at Shahjehanpore, about twenty or thirty 
miles from Mohumdee, on Sunday the 31st May, 
while attending public worship. They massacred 
several, the rest escaping in various directions, and 
finally reaching Mohumdee. Captain Orr then in- 
trusted his wife and child to the care of a Rajah, 
Lonee Singh, at Mithowlee, eighteen miles to the 
south, on the road to Lucknow. The escort showed 
Mrs. Orr and her child all respect, and made the 
Rajah swear to protect them before committing them 
to him. He sent them to a wretched, empty fort, 
called Kutcheanee, in the jungle. In the mean time, 
the fugitives from Shahjehanpore, amounting to thir- 
teen officers, along with Captain Orr, Mr. Thomason, 
eight ladies, besides children, and three or four civil- 
ians, left Mohumdee for another station about twenty- 
one miles farther south than Mithowlee, called Seeta- 
pore. On the road the guard mutinied, and everi/ one 
was massacred I ^exceipt Captain Orr, who was con- 
ducted by some of his old troopers to the lonely fort 
where his wife and child lay concealed 

Two days before this massacre (June 3), the native 
troops had risen as suddenly as elsewhere at Seeta- 
pore, where Mr. Christian was Commissioner. Twenty- 



LUG KNOW TO AGRA. 97 

four officers and civilians were massacred, besides 
many women and children. The last which was 
seen of Mr. Christian was as he was shot dead just 
when he had crossed a stream, while beside his body 
sat his wife with a babe in her arms! They, too, 
were soon killed. Lieutenant Barnes, in flying for 
the jungle with Sergeant Morton, managed to pick 
up their little child, Sophie Christian, three years 
old. Sir Mountstuart Jackson and his sister also 
escaped into the jungle, and all found their way, 
they knew not how, to the fort where Captain and 
Mrs. Orr and child were hiding. 

For some reason or other, the Orrs, about June 7, 
were separated from this party and sent alone into 
the jungle with a few servants. This jungle was not 
a forest, but an arid wilderness, with patches of 
thorny brushwood, sufficient to give shelter to tigers 
and wolves, but not to human beings. For ten days, 
attended by an old native servant who stood faithful 
to the last, they remained here, beneath the awful 
heat of an Indian summer sun, with no shelter but 
such as a few rags could afford. They were then 
allowed to return to the miserable fort for a few 
weeks, and to join their companions in misery. By 
this time (June 30) the Residency in Lucknow was 
besieged, so that no aid could reach them from its 
garrison. 

Once more the Orrs (August 6) were separated 
from their fellow-prisoners and sent by themselves 



98 DAYS JN NORTH INDIA. 

to the jungle, where they passed a fearful time till 
20th October — suffering from jungle fever, often de- 
luged by torrents of rain, and every day subjected to 
the furnace heat of a cloudless sky. The only au- 
thentic news which reached them was of the mas- 
sacre at Cawnpore; and, what was more cheerful, 
the advance of the British troops. 

Captain Orr managed to communicate with Have- 
lock and Outram on the 20th of September, when 
they were about to enter Lucknow. Outram wrote 
to the Eajah Lonee Singh, bidding him take heed 
how he treated the wanderers. It had no effect. 
All believed the English Raj to be over, and acted 
as if the rebel power alone was to be conciliated. At 
this time an ungrateful wretch, Zahoor-ool-Hussein, 
who had in former days owed everything to Captain 
Orr, and who knew where he and the other fugitives 
were located, betrayed them, from self-interested mo- 
tives, to the rebel government in Lucknow; and on 
the 20th of October a strong guard of cavalry and 
two guns were sent to conduct them, together with 
their fellow-prisoners, to the capital. The ladies were * 
put into rude cars without any shelter. When Mrs. 
Orr complained and asked to be allowed to retain a 
sheet for the protection of the children, she was 
knocked down by a rude blow from a trooper. The 
gentlemen, emaciated by jungle fever, and suffering 
in body and mind, were bound with iron manacles 
and forced to walk. Poor Barnes lost his reason; 



LUC KNOW TO AGRA. 99 

and Sergeant Morton fell into a convulsive fit in his 
agony. A cord to ease the irons by lifting th.em up 
with the hand was refused. They suffered from ex- 
cruciating thirst ; coarse food was flung to them like 
dogs once a day ; and they had to march in rags, 
without shoes, from daybreak till sunset, with brief 
intervals of rest, from the 20th till the 26th of Octo- 
ber, when, at last, amid a jeering and mocking mob, 
and in an agony of thirst which made the ladies 
scream, but scream in vain, for water, they were 
thrust into a vile room in the Palace of the Kaiser 
Ba2[h. 

Let it be noted, that as Captain Orr marched 
through the streets of Lucknow he observed some 
of his old soldiers in the crowd weeping like chil- 
dren! It was these same men who had saved his life, 
when all others, as narrated, were massacred, on the 
journey to Seetapore from Mohumdee. Truly, the 
native character is a great riddle. The simplicity 
and kindness of the child, with the cunning of the 
fox, and the ferocity of the tiger, are most mj^steri- 
ously blended. 

The miserable fugitives were confined to one room 
in the Kaiser Bagh, under a strong guard. The suf- 
ferings of the ladies and children were unspeakable ! 
They had been deprived, for example, of the neces- 
sary comforts of a comb or brush for months, and 
their hair was matted. But enough on these and 
other points! The garrison, in which were two of 

8* 



100 DATS IN NOBTH INDIA. 

Captain Orr's brothers, was made acquainted with 
their state. But no relief could be sent. From 
October 26 till November 16 many devices were 
tried by their jailers to make capital out of the pri- 
soners at the expense of their honor; but in vain. 
Barnes was imbecile; Morton dying; Sir M. Jack- 
son getting weaker every day; Captain Orr so altered 
as to be hardly recognized by old friends ; and what 
of the ladies and children ? 

Sir Colin Campbell had arrived and taken the 
Eesidency. It was soon emptied of its defenders, 
who were on their way — home! But the prisoners 
still remained in the palace, while their enemies, 
mad with revenge, believed that the English would 
return no more. Strange to the captives, however, 
was the fact that a large force remained encamped 
near Lucknow at the Alum Bagh ! What could this 
mean ? There was one ray of hope, they had a true 
friend in a certain native, called Wajid Allee, a man of 
kind heart and great influence among the rebels and 
the occupants in the palace. He was determined to 
save them; but there was in Lucknow also a fierce 
and determined enemy of the English, a very fiend 
in wiles, subtlety, and persevering hate — the Moulvie 
Ahmed Alee Shah. He was a Mohammedan priest, 
born in South India, and able to speak English well. 
Some months before, he had preached a crusade 
against the " Kaffir" English in the bazaars of Fyza- 
bad, a town in Oude, about eighty miles southeast 



LUCKNOW TO AGRA. 101 

of Lucknow. He was ordered by the British magis- 
trate to give up his arms, together with those of his 
followers (seven only in number), and be silent. He 
refused to do either ; and when attacked by a com- 
pany of a native regiment, he resisted until all his 
followers were slain but one, while he himself, after 
dealing many wounds, submitted on condition of re- 
ceiving a fair trial. The mutiny, in the mean time, 
broke out, and he escaped from prison, to become 
the fierce leader of that Mohammedan faction which 
would neither give nor receive quarter. The Moul- 
vie, like a demon, had his eyes on the captives, and 
kept his spies on the alert. No sooner were Sir 
Colin's guns heard than these poor suffering men. 
Captain Orr, Sir Mountstuart Jackson, Lieutenant 
Barnes, and Sergeant Morton, were dragged out of 
their place of confinement. Nothing was told to the 
ladies, but they anticipated all; the bitterness of 
death was past. A few short words at parting ; then 
a musketry fusillade, and they knew that all was 
over. They were informed weeks afterward that 
the wearied bodies and souls of their dear ones had 
then found rest. Poor little Sophie Christian died 
in the palace, and was interred at night in her little 
grave. In spite of the Moulvie, Wajid Allee, who 
was himself suspected and carefully watched, man- 
aged by bribes, counterspies, and much cunning, to 
get Louisa, Mrs. Orr's child, conveyed as a corjDse 
through the city and the camp of the Moulvie to the 



102 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

Alum Basfli, whicli slie reached alive and well.* He 
also managed, with extreme tact and delicacy, to get 
the ladies conveyed in close dhoolies to his own 
house in the city. But I must quote the conclusion 
of this story from the deeply-interesting narrative 
before me, compiled at the time by Mr. Hutchinson. 

" Many dangers still awaited our party while pass- 
ing through streets crowded with lawless and inde- 
pendent soldiers, but Providence guided them, and 
they reached their destination in safety, followed by 
the guard supposed by the passers-by to be one of 
honor accompanying a native lady of high rank. Of 
course the confusion reigning in the city at the time 
favored the passage of the party; but again the new 
abode was not secure against the messengers of death 
hurled by the British against the doomed city, and 
Wajid Allee removed to yet another house in the 
suburbs occupied by the Sultan Mahul, and Wajid 
Alice's wife and children, as well as by his brother-in- 
law's family. Here i\\Q ladies were most kindly re- 
ceived, clothes provided for them, and all their wants, 
as much as possible, attended to. The British, already 
masters of the Kaiser Bagh and of the principal build- 
ings in the city, were driving the enemy from its 

* "A little cliild named Orr was sent in to-day by a friendly native 
■who had concealed her in the city, where there are two or three English 
ladies concealed by the same man. The poor little girl was carried out 
through the enemy in some disguise, and delivered at the Alum Bagh 
port." (Dr. Eussell's " Diary in India," vol. i. p. 286.) 



LUC KNOW TO AGRA. 103 

outskirts, a portion of which was still held by the 
Moulvie. The monster had long suspected Wajid 
AUee of being friendly to the English, and his object 
was to seize him as he had already seized Shurfood 
Dowlah, the Minister under the rebel administration. 
Communication with the British camp, though often 
interrupted, was still kept up with Wajid AUee, who 
was plunged in the greatest anxiety regarding the 
safety of the ladies and of his own large family. 

"The Moulvie had discovered on the 18th March 
the abode of Wajid Allee, who, through his own in- 
formants, had been made well aware of the designs 
of his enemy. The position in which the ladies now 
found themselves was most critical, for although the 
British, as we have before stated, were masters of the 
principal portions of the city, yet the Moulvie with a 
considerable force still held a position in the suburbs. 
On the night of the 17th or 18th March, Wajid Allee 
wrote to Captain Orr's brother, pointing out the ex- 
treme danger in which he was placed, and begging 
for assistance without delay. This letter was shown 
to Sir J. Outram, who communicated, we believe, on 
the subject with General Macgregor, then with the 
Goorkha troops most providentially in the neighbor- 
hood of Wajid Alice's house; but the danger was 
imminent, the Moulvie with his men was hourly ex- 
pected, and no time was to be lost. Wajid Allee 
begged of Mrs. Orr to write a note, explaining the 
difficulties and danger by which she was surrounded, 



104 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

to the address of any British officer ; this note he 
should cause to be conveyed to the nearest British 
post. Mrs. Orr wrote a few lines which were con- 
fided to Wajid Alice's brother-in-law. This person, 
however, had hardly left the house when he encoun- 
tered a body of Goorkhas under the command of two 
British officers, Captains MacNeil and Bogle. He im- 
mediately explained to them the nature of his errand, 
and led the way to the house. 

" The Moulvie was already from another quarter 
moving in the same direction. The officers rushed 
into the house, and without the loss of a moment 
placed the ladies in a palankeen; no bearers could be 
found, but the servants of the officers and some 
Goorkhas were pressed into the service, and Captain 
MacNeil accompanying the palankeen commenced 
his perilous journey, leaving Captain Bogle with the 
Goorkhas to escort Wajid Alice and his family. It 
must be remembered that Captain MacNeil had to 
pass through narrow streets entirely devoid of British 
troops, and about which the enemy were still hover- 
ing, and that he might at any moment expect an 
attack, or at all events a ball from some hidden as- 
sassin. Captain MacNeil, however, rushed on, urging 
and encouraging his party to make the most strenuous 
efforts. The Char Bagh ravine was reached and 
crossed, and in a little more General Macgregor's 
camp came in sight ; on — on — swiftly was the palan- 
keen borne ; the friendly camp is at length gained. 



LUC KNOW TO AGRA. 105 

and the ladies are safe. It is needless to say how 
kindly and cordially the ladies were received by 
General Macgregor and his officers. Every attention 
was shown to them, and on the next day, the 20th 
March, they were escorted to General Sir J. Oatram's 
camjD, where Mrs. Orr had the inexpressible delight 
of once more clasping her danghter in her arms.'^ 

'' But we must return to Captain Bogle, the brave 
companion of Captain MacNeil. With much difficulty 
and at much risk he succeeded in escorting the whole 
of Meer Wajid Alice's fiimily to General Macgregor's 
camp. The difficulty of his enterprise will be better 
understood by those acquainted with native manners 
and customs. To these officers our once captive coun- 
trywomen are indeed much indebted for the gallantry 
and presence of mind that they displayed on the oc- 
casion, when delay or hesitation would have been 
fatal. In after-years the souvenir of the deed per- 
formed by Captains MacNeil and Bogle at Lucknow 
will not be reckoned as the least among pleasurable 
reminiscences 

" We must, however, make mention of one circum- 
stance, the nature of which cannot but strike the 
most callous minds. Before the final separation of the 



* " I went to pay my respects to two heroic countrywomen, Mrs, Orr 
and Miss Jackson, who had suffered so long, and so heroically. Alas ! 
their appearance showed that they had suffered much. It was an in- 
teresting, and to me an affecting interview, and I retired sadly away." 
(Dr. Kusscll's "Indian Diary," vol. i. p. 359.) 



IQQ DAYS JN NORTH INDIA. 

gentlemen from the ladies in the Kaiser Bagh, Mrs. 
Orr had occasion to send for some native medicines. 
They were brought to her wrapped up in a piece of 
printed paper. On glancing her eyes over it, Mrs. 
Orr perceived that it was a portion of a leaf of a 
Bible, and contained the following passage of Isaiah li.: 
^They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and 
mourning shall flee away. I, even I, am He that com- 
forteth you : who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid 
of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which 
shall be made as grass; and forgettest the Lord thy 
Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and 
laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared 
continually every day because of the fury of the op- 
pressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is 
the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hast- 
eneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not 

die in the pit, nor that ' 

(Signed) "A. Orr, Captain" 

Surely it was our heavenly Father who conveyed 
comfort in such an unexpected way as this to the 
broken-hearted widow from her husband ! But we must 
bid farewell to Lucknow, which will be forever mem- 
orable in the annals of our Eastern Empire as the scene 
of much sufl^ering, and of heroism never surpassed.* 



* A most interesting volume was published by Mr. Edwards, late judge 
of the high court of Agra, called " Reminiscences of a Bengal Civilian." 
His narrative of adventure and escape during the mutiny is very char- 
acteristic of that awful time, as well as most exciting. 



LUCKNOW TO AGRA. 107 

Agra, our next stage, opened up a new world to 
me. The Western Coast of India — the whole line of 
travel down the ghats from Poonah to Bombay, and 
then from the almost unmatched harbor of Bombay 
to the gorgeous groves of Mahxbar, and the pictur- 
esque Nilgherries — had left indelible impressions of 
the glory of vegetation and of scenery. In the west, 
too, at Karli, I had seen specimens of the cave tem- 
ples of the old Buddhist worship. Madras and South- 
ern India, again, had given me my only ideas of genu- 
ine Hindoo temples. There, and there only, had I 
seen the vast architectural piles, the pyramidal pa- 
godas, the inner courts, the fine arcades, the ambitious 
and elaborate sculpture of gods and things divine; the 
silence and gloomy solitudes ; the ruin and decay, all 
marking a religion of power and influence whose sun 
was setting. Bengal was the field in which British 
power, culture, and faith were seen in conflict with an 
old and eflete civilization, docile, subtle, polite, recep- 
tive, but without the strength of truth, self-sacrifice, 
or self-reliance. Benares supplied the medley of splen- 
did Eastern manufactures, of learned Pundits, of filthy 
ascetics, of the lowest and most degraded fetish wor- 
shipers, of holy monkeys, and of all that the Hin- 
dooism of any age, from the present day up to that 
of Solomon, had ever produced, tending to the highest 
heavens or the deepest — mud. It stands by itself — 
there is nothing like it in the world, just as there is 
nothing like Rome, or Moscow, or Jerusalem. Cawn- 

9 



108 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

pore and Lucknow filled my mind with nothing but 
associations of the mutiny, and sundry painful ques- 
tions, more than once hinted at, of right and wrong^ 
which pertain to that time, and were more or less 
causes of our suffering as well as of that of the natives, 
and were intended no doubt to be disciplinary correc- 
tions and cures of our sins, personal and political. 

But once in Agra, I felt, as I have said, that a dif- 
ferent phase of India had suddenly opened up before 
me. Books have given every one a certain amount of 
general information regarding the Mohammedan con- 
quest of India under Baber in the fifteenth century ; 
and we have all visions of the Great Mogul — a desig- 
nation, by the way, which historians very properly 
reject as unwarranted by fact, but which will never- 
theless remain like many a fruit of fairy tale, or of 
prosaic fibbing — visions of pearls, and gold, and dia- 
monds unlimited, of power irresistible, of cruelty as 
great, and of whatever a young reader of the "Arabian 
Nights" could desire, had he only the powerful magic 
charm to minister to his pleasures. But I had never 
before seen anything — except perhaps in Cairo, and 
there but very partially, and I have not yet visited 
Spain or the Alhambra — that gave me any true idea 
of Mohammedan architecture. In Agra we were as 
in a new world, which is Oriental, but verily not Hin- 
doo^ — a splendid exotic flowering in beauty and bril- 
liancy beside the dark and ugly forms of Yishnu and 
Sheva. The buildings in which this architecture is 




Page 111, 



LUCKNOW TO AGRA. ^^ 

seen are chiefly tombs, palaces, and mosques. Were 
we to recognize these buildings as symbolical, we 
might conclude that a Mohammedan was purity itself, 
both in his worship and in his life, for they are pure 
as alabaster — simple in their forms, and destitute of 
every ornament except precious stones mingling with 
the snowy marble, just as the flowers of spring might 
show themselves in the recesses of the quarries of 
Carrara. 

The famous Taj, the gem of India and of the 
world, the Koh-i-noor of architecture, is situated 
about three miles from Agra, on the west bank of 
the Jumna. On approaching it one sees white marble 
minarets rising among trees. We halt at the grand 
portal of a great garden, and the entrance-hall or gate 
so arrests us that we feel inclined to ask, with a little 
feeling of disappointment, Is tills the Taj? — tliis being 
a splendid building of hard red stone — whether sand- 
stone or granite I cannot remember — inlaid with 
white and black marble and various colored stones. 
Its arched halls are spacious. We were conducted to 
the upper story, and from a great open arch beheld 
the Taj ! All sensible travelers here pause when at- 
tempting to describe this building, and protest that 
the attempt is folly, and betrays only an unwarranted 
confidence in the power of words to give any idea of 
such a vision in stone. I do not cherish the hope of 
being able to convey any true impression of the mag- 
nificence and beauty of the Taj,^ but nevertheless I 
cannot be silent about it. 



112 DATS IN NORTH INDIA. 

From the arch in the gateway the eye follows a 
long, broad, marble canal, often full of crystal water, 
at the extreme end of which rises the platform on 
which the Taj is built. Each side of the white mar- 
ble canal is bordered by tall, dark cypress-trees, and 
on feast days about eighty fountains — twenty-two 
being in the center — fling their cooling spray along 
its whole length, while trees of every shade, and 
plants of sweetest odor, fill the rest of the garden. 
The buildings which make up the Taj are all erected 
on a platform about twenty feet high and occupying 
a space of about three hundred and fifty feet square. 
These buildings consist of the tomb itself, which is an 
octagon, surmounted by an egg-shaped dome of about 
seventy feet in circumference ; and of four minarets 
about a hundred and fifty feet high, which shoot up 
like columns of light into the blue sky. One feature 
peculiar to itself is its perfect purity; for all portions 
of the Taj — the great platform, the sky-piercing mina- 
rets, the building proper — are of pure lohite marble! 
The only exception — but what an exception ! — is the 
beautiful ornamented work of an exquisite flower pat- 
tern, which wreathes the doors and wanders toward 
the dome, one huge mosaic of inlaid stones of dif- 
ferent colors. Imagine if you can such a building 
as this — 

" White as the snows of Apennine 
Indurated hy frost," 

rising amid the trees of an Eastern garden rich in 



LUCKNOW TO AGRA. II5 

color, fruit, and flower, and standing against a sky of 
ethereal blue, with nothing to break its repose save 
the gleammg wings of flocks of paroquets adding to 
the glory of color; and all seen in perfect silence, 
with no painful associations to disturb the mind, or 
throw it out of harmony with the pleasing memories 
of a wife and mother buried here by a husband who 
loved her for twenty years of married life, and who 
lies beside her ! 

We walk up from the great portal along the central 
marble canal, ascend the platform by twenty steps, 
and, crossing the marble pavement, enter the Taj 
with a feeling of awe and reverence. Our admiration 
is increased as we examine the details of the won- 
drous interior. The light admitted by the door 
does not dispel but only subdues the gloom within. 
We stand before such a screen as w^e have never seen 
equaled. Divided into several compartments and 
panels, it sweeps around the marble cenotaphs that 
lie within it, and represent the real tombs seen in 
the vault beneath. It is of purest marble, so pierced 
and carved as to look like a high fence of exquisite 
lace-work, but is really far more refined and beauti- 
ful ; for everywhere along those panels are wreaths 
of flowers composed of lapis lazuli, jasper, heliotrope, 
chalcedony, cornelian, etc.; so that to make one of 
the hundreds of these bouquets a hundred difterent 
stones are required. The Florence mosaic- work does 
not surpass it. And all this vision in stone was 

9* 



116 



DAYS TN NORTH INDIA 



raised by a Mohammedan emperor over his dream 
of love, — the wife who died more than two hundred 
years ago, when Christian kings and emperors were 
sent into dark and " weeping vaults" — " the longest 







MAKBLE SCREEN. 



weepers for their funerals!" — with no ornaments save 
spiders' webs. When a musical note is sounded be- 
neath this dome, how strange are the echoes from 
within it ! They are unearthly, like those of an 



LUCKNOW TO AGRA. ^17 

^olian harp. The slightest note wanders heaven- 
ward, and seems to be harmonized by the voices of 
unseen spirits, and to be drawn out into fairy echoes 
and vanishing re-echoes, each more faint, more beauti- 
ful than the other, as if floating away slowly like 
summer winds, far, far beyond the dome, into the 
infinite abyss of blue! 

But who — it may be asked by that trying order of 
readers called the lovers of knowledge — was this 
emperor, and who was his wife, so honored ? Now, 
one of the difficulties we have to encounter in writ- 
ing about India is the absolute want of all interest in 
its history prior to the time when its rulers came 
into contact with " our people." The great contests 
of India, which were fashioning its destiny, have less 
interest for us than the raids of a vulgar robber and 
lifter of cattle like Rob Koy, or a ticket-of-leave gen- 
tleman like Robin Hood. The succession of great 
emperors of the olden time in India are to most of 
us what the riders in a horse-race are to strano:ers, 
who see but different colors trying to make their 
horses pass each other. 

The father of the builder of the Taj, Jehanghir, 
was the first ruler in India who received an ambas- 
sador from England — Sir Thomas Roe, in the reign 
of James I. Jehanghir married a famous beauty, 
Niher-ul-Nissa, the widow of Sher Afgan, who, four 
years previously, had been assassinated by this same 
Jehanghir. Her name was changed, first into Noor- 



118 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

Mahal, " the light of the harem," and afterward to 
Noor-Jehan, " the light of the world." Jehanghir, it 
may be noticed, as a characteristic of the politics of 
the times, had impaled eight hundred of the race of 
Timour, who were "in his way" to the throne. 

Shahjehan succeeded him, having murdered his own 
brother in order to do so. He married Arzumund 
Banoo, the niece of "the light of the harem" — the 
daughter of her brother. She was a good wife, and 
brought to her husband several children, among 
whom was Aurungzebe, who was the last ruler of 
the united empire of the great Akbar, his great- 
grandfather. After burying his wife in the Taj, 
Shahjehan became a miserable debauchee. He has, 
however, been very quiet and sober during the two 
hundred years he has lain beside Arzumund Banoo 
beneath the marble dome. 

The cost of the Taj, I may add, was upwards of 
three millions of pounds sterling! Thousands of 
workmen were engaged upon it for long years. So 
much for the price of a sentiment. Was it too much? 
And how shall we balance the account between senti- 
ment and silver? 

Every one in Agra, and very many beyond it, 
know Dr. Murray. He is wedded to the Taj. It is 
the object of his genuine affection. Well for the 
building that he has been good enough, and tasteful 
enough, to make it his specialite; for to him chiefly 
is owing the perfect repair in which it is kept. He 



LUCKNOW TO AGRA. 121 

was kind enough to have it illuminated for us at 
night with " Roman lights," which brought out with 
intense vividness the beautiful details of the interior. 

Another noble tomb, at Secundra, seven miles 
north of Agra, is that of Akbar Shah, who is justly 
described as one of the greatest monarchs who ever 
reigned. He died in 1598. "The memory of Akbar," 
writes Lord Hastings, when visiting his tomb, "does 
not belong to a particular race or country; it is the 
property of mankind." He was wise and just, with 
a real desire to promote the permanent good of his 
subjects, and his laws and arrangements left little 
room for improvement on the part of his English suc- 
cessors. One of the most remarkable features of his 
character was his toleration of every form of religious 
thought. He was himself a pure theist, and seems 
to have been repelled from Christianity as presented 
to him by Portuguese missionaries, who appear to 
have narrated to him all their own legends and 
fables, thus offending his religious feeling and com- 
mon sense. He was a Mohammedan, with little or 
nothing of Mohammed, but much of Akbar himself. 

The tomb is of vast size, and is situated in a garden 
of upwards of forty acres. It has four large majestic 
portals — themselves quite palaces. It is difficult, 
and needless in presence of the illustration, to de- 
scribe this tomb. It consists of four terraces, each 
narrowing above the other, except the two upper 
ones, which are nearly of equal extent. The court 



122 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

is of marble, and is open to the sky, with a marble 
cenotaph in the center, and a marble arcade all 
round with arched windows, whose panes are of 
carved lacelike patterns, each pane having its own 
peculiar figure. The whole has a most beautiful and 
grand effect. 

Royal palaces are in India, as in many other coun- 
tries, within the fort of the capital. The fort of 
Agra is one of imposing grandeur. It is built of red 
sandstone. The walls are about eighty feet high. I 
know few more striking architectural pictures than 
its "Gate of Delhi." Within are all the different 
kinds of buildings necessary for the palace of a great 
Eastern emperor. There are the audience hall, the 
rooms for the numerous retainers, the luxurious Ze- 
nanas; the mosques for worship; not to speak of all 
the space and dwellings needed for the soldiery, and 
for arms, small and great, and for stores of provisions 
for man and beast. So large is this fort, that during 
the mutiny upwards of five thousand fugitives found 
refuge within a comparatively small portion of its 
interior. Here the great Akbar lived for many years. 
His hall of audience still exists, one hundred and 
eighty feet long, and sixty broad, supported by grace- 
ful arches. In it his throne of state rests empty on 
its dais, his power haviug passed into the hands of 
another Raj, represented daily by the British soldier 
as he paces to and fro with his glittering bayonet. 
The hall is now an armory. In it are deposited the 




llHlilPfl 



\^^w<y^ 




BALCONY OF ZENANA, AT AGRA. Pase 127 



LUC KNOW TO AGRA. 227 

famous snndal-wood gates of the Hindoo temple of 
Soranauth, brought by General Nott from Guznee in 
Afghanistan, to which they had been carried as tro- 
phies by Mahmoud of Guznee a thousand years before. 
These gates had been lost to memory, and I have heard 
that with whatever rejoicings they were received by 
the Hindoos, they were the occasion of very opposite 
feelings on the part of the English soldiers and offi- 
cers who had to conduct them south. 

But the chief objects in the fort are the buildings 
erected by Shahjehan, who built the Taj, and sleeps 
in it. These consist of the Pearl Mosque, and the 
apartments of the Zenana. The impression made by 
all these buildings is much the same as that made 
by the Taj. As to the Zenana buildings, picture to 
yourselves rooms or boudoirs, call them what you 
please, opening one into another, all of pure marble; 
here a balcony supported by delicate pillars, with 
projecting roofs; there exquisite balustrades in deli- 
cate lacelike open patterns with no ornament save 
gilding; — the views extending over the country, and 
embracing the Taj and the Jumna. Imagine again 
rivulets of water streaming from room to room along 
marble beds; gardens of flowers, and precious exotics 
— the creepers running over trellises, and shading 
from the heat the pathways across the marble floors, 
and mingling with the flying spray of fountains; and 
this on and on, from room to room, from balcony to 
balcony, from court to court. And then there are 



]^28 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

two recesses impervious to heat, whose walls are 
formed of innumerable small mirrors, with lamps 
without number, by which tiny water-falls used to 
be illumined from behind, as they flowed into marble 
fonts and thence issued in bubbling rivulets or sprang 
into fluttering jets of spray of delicious coolness. No 
palaces can be imagined more full of the joyousness 
and poetry of mellowed light and crystal water, and 
of that beauty of color and form which harmonizes 
naturally with the blue sky and the illumined air, 
the green foliage and the birds of brilliant hue. The 
mosques are ideal places of worship, so grand and 
spacious, so simple, silent, and reverential, so open to 
the light of day and the naked heavens, as if God 
were welcome at any time to enter; and so unlike 
the dark Hindoo temples, nay, so unlike the dark 
and mysterious Gothic temples of Europe. And then 
the tombs are also calculated to impress one with the 
idea of respect for the dead — as if their occupants 
were yet alive, and therefore worthy of being recog- 
nized in such a way as to express not only what they 
were but are. As far as I know Mohammedanism, 
all this seems quite out of harmony with its ideas 
and beliefs ; but I presume it cannot be altogether so. 
The Mootee Musjid, or Pearl Mosque, is one of the 
most perfect gems of art in India, and so too is the 
Zenana Musjid beside it. Its arches open into the 
marble court and garden, which are bounded on the 
opposite side by the Palace of the Zenana, already 



LUCKNOW TO AGRA. 229 

described. Tiie original designer of these splendid 
Mohammedan palaces, mosques, and tombs which are 
the glory of Agra and its environs, as well as of Fut- 
tehpore Sikri, and Delhi, old and new, is said to have 
been one Austin de Bourdeaux. This, however, is 
uncertain, although there were, no doubt, many Eu- 
ropean adventurers, chiefly from Genoa and Venice, 
in the service of '' the Great Mo2;ul." 

But there is a black side to all this white marble, 
— dark scenes in the shades below, balancing the 
brilliant scenes in the heights above. Far down be- 
neath this marble paradise for female beauty, female 
ennui, and female misery, are various lower stories 
and caverned vaults. These realize in their con- 
struction, and in their revelations also, all the wild 
indefinite horror which fired our young imaginations 
in reading such stories as that of Bluebeard. Deep 
down are seen mysterious stairs descending into 
empty cells and dark caverns, and from these again 
descending into others still deeper down, and throligh 
tortuous passages, ending apparently in nothing, yet 
with more than a suspicion of a something beyond, 
although a built-up wall interposes. We examined 
these mysterious and dim retreats, and we saw 
enough to convince us that pleasure and pain, "lust 
and hate," were near neighbors in Agra as in other 
places. Sad evidences were apparent of beings who 
had, from jealousy or other causes, been conveyed to 
these chambers of horror and there executed in the 

10 



130 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

eye of God alone. In the time of Lord (then Sir 
Thomas) Metcalfe, some engineer officers found their 
way blocked up by a wall where no wall should be. 
They pierced through it for about eleven feet, and 
then, emerging upon the other side, found the skele- 
tons of a young man and of an old and young woman. 
A well was there, but no means of drawing water 
from it. A beautiful view could be seen from the 
spot, but no way of escape! I saw the place. Others 
who have had time more carefully to explore these 
underground mysteries describe a well, or pit, with 
ropes hung from bearers across its mouth, on which 
skeleton bodies of females were found. Of these and 
other details I cannot speak from personal knowl- 
edge, but I saw and heard quite enough to convince 
me that Oriental splendor might exist with horrible 
misery. There was enough here to illustrate the 
selfishness of human nature in its vilest forms, and 
its desires of self-gratification and cruelty. Who 
would compare the social blessings, the intellectual 
possessions, the calm security for life and property, 
the justice and fair dealing, the spiritual and purify- 
ing influences, of the family of an educated and 
sincerely Christian gentleman, husband and father, 
living in any of our smoky, gloomy, unartistic, com- 
mercial towns, with all that any Great Mogul ever 
did or could possess, amid the splendors of Agra, 
Delhi, or anywhere else ! The emperor was misera- 
blCj not less really so that his misery was but par- 



LUC KNOW TO AGRA. 3^33 

tially realized by him ; while the Christian workman 
of a free and civilized state possesses a blessedness 
and peace, not the less real, thongli not fully realized 
by him, such as never dawned on the mind of an 
Indian king. 

A strange contrast was presented during the mu- 
tiny, between the ordinary silence of those marble 
halls of the Zenana and Pearl Mosques, and the un- 
w^onted din of the tribes and trades, high and low, 
European and Oriental, which crowded into them for 
defense; and still more so when soldiers wounded in 
battle lay on those pavements, bleeding, groaning, 
dying, tended by ladies, who then were, and at all 
such times are, the very angels of mercy and hope. 
In that fort lie the remains of Mr. Colvin, the Lieu- 
tenant-Governor, who gave way beneath the over- 
whelming weight of responsibility. But I cannot 
allow myself to record here other illustrations of 
that awful period. 

I was conducted over the fort by Dr. Playfair, 
brother of my old acquaintance, Dr. Lyon Playfair. 
He has devoted himself, with the enthusiasm which 
is in his blood, to the protection and generous ex- 
planation of the architectural glories of the fort. I 
dare not allege that I heard it from him, nor can 1 
condescend at this moment on particulars, yet the 
impression remains on my mind that notwithstanding 
the so-called repairs of the fort, and the means adopted 
for the prevention of thefts, yet tliere has neverthe- 



134 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

less been an uncalled-for destruction of bits of archi- 
tecture which should have been preserved, if neces- 
sary, under a glass case secured by lock and key.* 
I cannot divest myself of the conviction, which must, 
I am sure, have originated from fact, that some of 
these local authorities do not yet fully realize the 
sacredness of the trust committed to them. Every- 
thing which records mind in the past, whether in 
power, taste, or opinion, should be preserved as rec- 
ords of man, be he great or small, wise or foolish. 
But if there is any one who will do justice to the 
Moslem in everything, it is the learned biographer of 
Mohammed, Sir William Muir, the present distin- 
guished Governor of the Northwest Provinces. 

There are many other monuments of architectural 
beauty near Agra on which I need not dwell. But 
any traveler who finds it possible to visit Futtehpore 
Sikri should do so by all means. It is unnecessary here 
to give its history. Suffice it to say, that it is within 
a day's drive of Agra, and was built by Akbar ; that 
its buildings remain as perfect as when erected — its 
tombs being like poems in marble, its palaces of rarest 

* A traveler has accused the Marquis of Hastings of having committed 
sacrilege among some of the magnificent marble baths by having had 
them removed — though they were subsequently sunk in the Ganges — to 
present them to George IV. But a very different and perfectly satis- 
factory report is given by himself in his Private Journal (vol. ii. pp. 19, 
20) of this transaction.. His object was to preserve them from what ap- 
peared to him to be imminent destruction, by bringing them to Calcutta, 
" where they might somehow be employed as ornaments for the city." 



LUCK^'OW TO AGRA. I35 

beaut}^, and its remains, in short, so exquisite as do 
not exist in any other part of the earth. To my 
great regret, I could not command the time to visit 
Futtehpore Sikri, and therefore cannot describe it, al- 
though illustrations of its glory are before me. The 
time is not, however, far distant when British tourists 
will be familiar with it. The Suez Canal and Indian 
railways are working out a greater revolution as 
regards the travel of the intelligent idle, as well as 
the commerce of the intelHgent busy, than we can 
anticipate. 

I am sorry I was not able to devote any time to 
the examination of the prisons in the Northwest 
Provinces, as represented by that of Agra under the 
surveillance of my host and old friend, Dr. Moir, the 
son of the well-known "Dalta" of Blachio:)ocT s Maga- 
zinc. But, from all I heard in the north, I am per- 
suaded that the prisons of this province are models, 
and may favorably compare with the best in Europe. 
For intelligence, enthusiasm., wisdom, and persever- 
ance in his work, I will "back up" my friend Dr. 
Moir against any "in the same line." 

I have said nothing about missions in these north- 
ern rides; but may possibly do so yet. Meanwhile 
we must have a peep at Delhi — and then home- 
wards ! 

10* 



CHAPTER lY. 



DELHI. 



It was past midnight when the carriage of the 
Commissioner at Delhi, Mr. M^Neile, conveyed us to 
his residence at "Ludlow Castle." Mr. M^Neile is 
the son of one widely known and respected as — I 
must use the old familiar name — " Hugh M'Neile, of 
Liverpool." And here I must take leave to express 
the hope that the number of English who will soon 
visit Lidia, and the certainty that the Suez Canal 
will indefinitely increase the number, will induce en- 
terprising persons to open comfortahle hotels in all the 
great cities. The more one feels the generous hospi- 
tality shown, as in our case, by fellow-countrymen, 
the more one realizes the pain and awkwardness of 
being entertained "like a prince" by gentlemen on 
whom one has no claim whatever. Meals at all 
hours ; carriages at all hours ; ladies, old and young, 
wearying themselves to add to one's comfort ; dinner- 
parties to meet you, etc., etc. — " It is really too bad !" 
as the phrase is. Yet at present this cannot be helped. 
I was only in two hotels in India, one at Beypore and 
the other at Lucknow; and wretched enough cara- 
(136) 



DELHI. 



137 



vanserais I found them. We were therefore very 
thankful, in spite of the feeling that we were in- 
truders, to find ourselves in such highly-civilized and 
delightful quarters as those of Mr. M'Neile. 

This late capital of "the Great Mogul," once so 
famous and romantic in all its associations, has since 
the mutiny sunk down into the position of a mere 
provincial city. Its architectural remains are the 
only things of present interest. But those will 
become more and more interesting to European 
travelers. 

Old Delhi — called by the natives Shahjehanabad — 
was built by Shahjehan in 1631. There were former 
cities of the same name, which were permitted to die 
out or were destroyed with the dynasty which erected 
them; and their gigantic remains lie scattered far 
and wide for. miles and miles over the plain. 

The present comparatively modern Delhi, the seat 
of the Mogul dynasty, is about seven miles in cir- 
cumference, and contains about a hundred and fifty 
thousand inhabitants. 

As a city it has marked features of its own. Un- 
like the other cities I had visited, it is walled, and 
that too (as we found in '57) in a most substantial 
manner — thanks to our own engineers. Although 
there are many streets as tortuous and narrow as are 
found in other towns, I did not see anywhere that 
squalor and tumble-down confusion which arrest the 
eye in the native quarters of Bombay or Calcutta ; 



138 DAYS IN NOBTH INDIA. 

while one leading thoroughfare, the Chandnee Chouk, 
leading direct from the Lahore Gate to the Palace, is 
really a fine street, ninety feet wide, about a mile 
long, with a row of trees, a canal along its center 
(covered, except in a few places), and Avith comforta- 
ble-looking veranda-houses and good shops on either 
side. 

The Hindoo element is quite wanting in Delhi. A 
different population, too, fill the streets. Stately- 
looking forms from the northern plains and mount- 
ains, Afghans and Sikhs, continuallj^ arrest the eye; 
while the general aspect of the city is wholly sug- 
gestive of Mohammedan influence, and recalls Turkey 
more than Hindostan. 

The two famous buildings — the Palace and the 
Great Mosque — are associated with Delhi, just as the 
Taj and Fort are associated with Agra. These build- 
ings are both, unquestionably, worthy of the capital 
of the once great Mohammedan empire of the East. 

Our illustration of the mosque — or Jumna Musjid, 
as it is called — will give a better idea of its general 
appearance than any description could do. It wants 
the unity of design and the simplicity and beauty of 
the Taj, but as a temple of worship it is far more 
imposing. The ground on which it is reared was 
originally a rocky eminence, which has been scar^Ded 
and leveled on the summit, thus forming a grand 
natural platform for iho; building, and afibrding space 
for an open square of fourteen hundred yards. This 









O 







DELHI. 



141 



square has three great entrances, the most ma.unificont 
being toward Mecca. These entrances are approached 
by noble flights of stairs. On stepping upon the 
grand square, the sight is most imposing. We tread 
upon slabs on which tens of thousands of worshipers 
can kneeL On three sides are airy arched colon- 
nades, with seated pavilions at intervals. In the 
center is a marble fountain for ceremonial ablutions. 
The mosque itself occupies the other end of the 
square, and is in length about two hundred and 
sixty-one feet. It possesses in a wonderful degree 
richness and beauty of color, combined with strength 
and grace, and simplicity and variety of form. Its 
general color is a deep red, from a hard red sand- 
stone, but this is relieved by pure white marble, as 
in the three domes on the summit; while the mina- 
rets, one hundred and thirty feet in height, are varie- 
gated by black marble, mingling in their shafts with 
the red stone, and relieved by three projecting gal- 
leries of the same pure white marble as the domes. 
If to all this be added the marble steps leading to the 
mosque, and the marble roofs and walls seen within 
in subdued light — a cornice extending along the 
whole building, and divided into compartments two 
and a half feet broad, in which verses from the Koran 
are inscribed in black marble, the whole culminating 
in the gilt pinnacles which top the domes and gleam 
in the blue sky — then may the reader conceive the 
effect of all this — how fresh, bright, and beautiful the 



142 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. ] 

■i 

Jumna Masjid is in a climate so hot, in an atmos- | 

phere so transparent, and under a sky so blue and i 

cloudless! On entering the building, which through ; 

its giant arches seems almost an open recess from the i 

square without, it seemed to me to be the very ideal i 

of a place of social worship. There are no images or ! 

pictures, or anything to catch the eye or distract ; 

the attention ; only the pure and unadorned marble, i 

harmonizing with the summer sun and sky. Here ' 

thousands may meet, and do meet, for worship, with- | 

out any distinction of rank, and in any dress, at any I 

hour, and on any day;, for seat-rents, and aristocratic 

pews for the rich only, are unknown. The Moulvie, 

when he has anything to say, ascends the simple | 

pulpit, and addresses the assembled mass — his voice i 

being audible at a great distance. The Jumna Musjid 

of Delhi is, in my opinion, incomparably better as a | 

place of worship than the dark, sepulchred, bedizened, | 

chapeled, altared, pictured, and tawdry image-crowded ] 

churches of Rome and Romanism. ] 

We ascended one of the minarets, and had a ; 

splendid bird's-eye view of the city and its neigh- ^ 

borhood. Immediately below is the great square;! 

on one side, without, an open space ; and beyond ! 

that again, about a quarter of a mile off, rise the I 

huge red walls inclosing the king's palace. A num- ^ 

ber of streets radiate from the central spot which we , 

occupied into the crowded city; while alb is com- 1 

pactly bound by the walls and bastions embracing j 



DELHI. 



143 



the city, along which the waters of the Jumna lluw, 
on its eastern side, from north to south. Everywhere 
the city is relieved by green trees and the minarets 
of many mosques, and has a bright and cheerful look. 
But without the walls one catches a most impressive 
glimpse of that vast plain of desolation, where the 
cities of the past are in ruins, and their once-teeming 
populations lie buried, bounded only by the horizon. 

There is one feature in that landscape without the 
walls for which I at once searched, and which, when 
discovered, interested me more than any other. That 
is the long, low, rocky ridge which rises a mile be- 
yond the walls to the north. Questions about it were 
unnecessary. There is nothing else, so to speak, in 
the whole surrounding plain. Something seized my 
throat as I caught the first glimpse of this Ther- 
mopylge wdiere, in '57, our heroes fought, suffered, 
and died. But we shall have something to say of 
this ridge by-and-by. In the mean time let us leave 
the mosque and have a peep at the once-crowded 
home of its royal and devoted adherents. 

The Palace is a great space, inclosed by red em- 
battled walls forty to fifty feet high. The residence 
of a Moslem ruler must necessarily be fortified, so as 
to afford means of defense against any sudden emeufe 
among his subjects. It must also be large enough to 
accommodate not only troops, but the many wives, 
the members of the royal flimily, and the iniiuiiuTa- 
ble officers and dependents who are connected with 



144 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

an Oriental court. The Palace of Delhi is three 
thousand feet long and eighteen hundred broad. It 
can afford space in its great open court for ten thou- 
sand horsemen. As to its teeming inhabitants, there 
were in it, when the mutiny broke out, five thousand 
persons, including three thousand of' the blood royal! 

The entrance-gate is a magnificent pile of building. 
A second gate admits into the great interior court, be- 
yond which is the Royal Palace proper, consisting of 
the Great Hall of Audience, or the Biwan-i-Kass, 
which is two hundred and eight feet long and seventy- 
six broad. It is all of white marble, the roof being 
supported by colonnades of marble pillars. In this hall 
the English were first presented, two centuries and a 
half ago, and stood as sweet innocents before the 
Great Mogul — like Joseph's brethren before Pharaoh. 
Here the famous peacock throne once stood. It has 
long since disappeared, and its untold jewels have 
been scattered over the world since the raid and 
massacre of Delhi, perpetrated by Nadir Shah, in 
1739. Now the Palace bears no trace of its former 
glory beyond these marble halls. The famous in- 
scription remains, '' If there be a paradise on earth, it 
is here ;" but the only signs of paradise are the unsur- 
passed beauty and purity of the hall itself j and the 
absence from it of those who had made it a hell. 

Most beautiful is the Private Hall of Audience; 
all marble, with inlaid precious stones of every hue, 
grouped by cunning artists ; most beautiful the court 



DELHI. 



147 



of the Harem, all marble also, with exquisite bal- 
conies, looking down into once-beautiful gardens on 
the banks of the Jumna; most beautiful too are those 
marble halls, where once were baths, the perfection 
of luxury; and not less fair that small marble mosque 
beside them. But, alas! the human beings who have 
here lived, where are they? Various travelers and 
writers — from the days when the Great Mogul was 
the admiration and envy of every nursery in which 
the fascinating ''Arabian Nights" had charmed our 
Northern ancestors, down to the time of the saintly 
Bishop Heber — have described this place in its 
splendor and decay. Never did the imagination of 
a Carlyle even realize or picture the vision-like char- 
acter of human existence which these halls susf^'est. 
We see successive crowds coming out of the inane — 
thunderino;, lauf^hino;, cursins:, murderino^, flashino; 
with lightning glory over the earth; visible in beau- 
tiful women or in armed men, in the pomp and cir- 
cumstance of war, in the glittering splendor of all 
that material earth can bestow in precious metals 
and more precious jewels; — we see the embodiment 
of irresponsible power, of unchecked self-will, mad 
passion, the devil, the world, and the flesh, on the 
peacock throne or amid its surroundings. And now, 
not a sound ! Empty halls, vacant courts, deserted 
gardens; and the whole of these emperors, and shahs, 
and harems, and khans, and begums, with their plots, 
conspiracies, ambitions, and crimes, overtaken by this 

11 



148 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

emptiness and awful silence ! It is a terrible night- 
mare in history ! The contrast between the present 
and the past, as one wanders through this palace, is 
oppressive ! 

There were many other palaces in Delhi, belong- 
ing to the native aristocracy; but these have long 
since been converted into public offices or residences 
for British officers. 

Like all travelers, we, as a matter of course, visited 
the Kootab. We had for our cicerone the intelligent 
and respected Baptist missionary, Mr. Smith, who has 
long labored both in Oude and Delhi, and is well ac- 
quainted with the manners and feelings of the na- 
tives. Speaking of native servants, he remarked that, 
when kindly and justly treated, he believed them 
to be as honest and attached as those in other coun- 
tries ; and such he himself had ever found them ; but 
he complained of the shameful treatment they often 
receive, especially from the military, who should 
know better, and an inferior order of employes. Such 
masters fostered the dishonesty and disobedience of 
which they now complain, and for which they punish 
their servants so unjustly and cruelly. 

The drive to the Kootab is about nine or ten miles. 
What this Kootab is like, our illustrations of it will 
inform the reader as no mere words can do. One of 
these is of the whole of this majestic pile, giving a 
general idea of its appearance ; the other is of a por- 
tion of its first and second stories, showing the pe- 




THE KOOTAB-MINAR, WITH THE GREAT ARCH, FROM THE WEST. 

Page 148. 



DELHI 



101 



culiarity of its structure. This tower is about one 
hundred and forty-three feet in circumference at its 




PART OF FIRST AND SECOXD STOUIE> OF TUK KOO T AB-MINAR. 



base, and is two hundred and fifty feet in height. It 
is built of a hard red sandstone. Four projecting 
galleries, at the respective altitudes of ninety, one 
hundred and forty, one hundred and eighty, and two 
hundred and three feet, divide it into four portions, 
each differently built from the other. The lower 



152 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

portion, as will be seen from our illustration, has 
round and angular flutings, and the second round 
only; while the third has only angular, and the 
others are smooth. A stair with three hundred and 
eighty steps winds within, and leads to the summit, 
from which a splendid view is obtained. There are 
also inscriptions, a foot in breadth, around the tower, 
containing verses from the Koran, with the names of 
illustrious Moslems, and the records of its builder — 
Kutteb-ud-din. He was originally a slave, and rose 
to be a general in the Turkish army. He succeeded his 
master, Mohammed Ghori — so called from a district 
of that name near Khorassan — who conquered North- 
ern India, and became the first of the Ghori, or Pathan 
dynasty (1194), which was followed by that of the 
Moguls under Baber (1525). The Pathan capital 
was first here, at old Delhi, and the Kootab was a 
great column of victory. Around its base are most 
interesting ruins of a great mosque, begun by his 
son-in-law, Altumsh ; the remains of a forest of beau- 
tifully carved pillars of Hindoo or Jain architecture, 
which once belonged to the palace of the conquered 
Hindoo Eaja, being made to serve as parts of the 
mosque. The most remarkable of these ruins is un- 
questionably the series of three larger arches and 
three smaller ones connected with the same old 
building. Some idea may be formed of the central 
arch from the illustration. It is 22 feet wide, and 
52 feet high, and covered with beautiful carving, 



D ELHI. 



155 



sharp as when it came from the tool. Tliere are 
near the mosque two very beautiful tombs — the 
one of Altumsh, and the other a century later. 
The former is the oldest Mohammedan monument 
in India. Close beneath the Kootab is a remark- 
able pillar, consisting of a single cast of wrought 
iron, weighing about 17 tons, and being 50 feet in 
height (22 above ground) and 5 feet in circumfer- 
ence ; the whole being without any sign of rust ! 
This fact may interest our iron manufacturers, and 
puzzle them as to how such a feat was accomplished 
in the sixth century, about which time this pillar is 
supposed to have been erected. It has several very 
old inscriptions on it. But, as I do not attempt to 
turn my brief peeps into travelers' guides, I need not 
go beyond the illustrations in describing what I saw 
in old Delhi. 

I could not have imagined any ruins of cities more 
impressive than those which cover the plains be- 
tween the Kootab and Delhi. What were once 
streets, or the houses of the once -busy population, 
are now heaps of rubbish. The tombs erected to per- 
petuate the names of the great men of the day alone 
remain. But how wonderful are these! — wonderful for 
their size, being larger generally than the largest of 
our modern churches — wonderful for the elegance of 
their architecture, the beautiful devices of their orna- 
ments, and the brilliancy of their colors from the com- 

11* 



156 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

bination of red stone, white marble, and encaustic 
tiles, all mellowed by time and made more picturesque 
and sad by slow and sure decay. No one takes care 
of them. No endeavors are made to preserve them. 
They are left alone in their glory. Their number, 
their size, their uselessness for any practical object, 
doom them to decay, and so they are left to time and 
the elements. How I wished to have had the power 
of the angel who carried the house of Nazareth in a 
single night to Loretto, that I might transport some 
of those gems to Scotland, and turn them into 
churches worth looking at ! — leaving behind, how- 
ever, as in duty bound, the remains of their old in- 
habitants in their stone boxes, and in the orthodox 
position wdth relation to Mecca. 

The view given in the illustration from the roof of 
Humavoon's tomb on the road to Delhi is intended to 
convey some impression of this wilderness of ruins — 
so bare, stony, silent, hot! — but yet only a small por- 
tion of it, for it stretches across a space of upwards of 
twenty miles in its greatest breadth. 

We visited, on our way to Delhi, — where I really 
cannot now tell, — some tombs, which have left a deep 
impression on my memory. Amid mounds of rubbish, 
along straggling paths, I recall, as in a dream, walls 
within walls, small courts divided by lacelike lattice- 
work, marble doors and screens, and tombs beside 
tombs, like some of the chapels and more splendid 
mausoleums in our old cathedrals — with living at- 



DELHI. 



159 



tendaiits, who read the Koran, keep lamps lighted, 
and take hacMieesli, and give an air of life and com- 
fort to those abodes of the illustrious dead, which 
contrasted most favorably with the silent, deserted, 
and decaying tombs everywhere else around. In the 
group we visited there was, as far as I remember, the 
tomb of a great Mohammedan saint, Nizam-ud-din, 
one of the fourteenth century; and the beautiful tomb 
of a famous poet (Chusero), the only monument I 
ever heard of in India dedicated to genius only; and 
there was also within the same court the tomb of a 
princess, the daughter of the marble-building Sliah- 
jehan, wiio was buried there in 1G82. She is de- 
scribed as having been young and beautiful, and the 
nurse of her father during the many years of his 
captivity, and until he died. Her name is associated 
with all that is pure and noble. She desired, on her 
death-bed, that no canopy should cover her grave, as 
" grass was the best covering for the tomb of the 
j)oor in spirit." And so she sleeps with the bare 
earth over her, and marble splendors around her. 
I gazed with loving interest on her tomb. To me 
there is nothing more strengthening and refreshing 
than records of those who were good beyond their 
knowledge, and who walked in the light, however 
dim, of true love, yet knowing nothing of Him — the 
Lidit of life — from which it came. I think that 
princess was more than a Mohammedan saint, if 
what is said of her be true; and it says something 



160 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

for the character of the Mohammedans to have ap- 
preciated such simple goodness, and have so long 
believed what has been said of her as a devoted 
daughter and pure-minded woman. I wish such 
^^ saints" were more common and more appreciated 
among some professing Christians at home. 

There is another tomb close by, erected to the 
memory of a different character, though belonging 
to the same noble dynasty. It is a very beautiful 
one, and must have cost a large sum of money. Its 
date is 1832. It endeavors to preserve the memory 
of Prince Mirza Jehangori, who died from the results 
of daily efforts to drink larger quantities of cherry 
brandy. 

In passing we entered Humayoon's tomb. It is a 
large red building, with an immense dome of white 
marble, and four minarets of red stone and white 
marble. A great gateway leads to it through exten- 
sive gardens. Humayoon was the father of the great 
Akbar. Within are the cenotaphs of many of the 
royal scions of the Mogul dynasty, and other "su- 
perior persons." A stair leads to a terrace round the 
dome, and from thence the view in our illustration is 
taken. What gives considerable interest to this build- 
ing and its surroundings is, that here Hodson secured 
the old king and the princes after Delhi was taken — 
of which more by-and-by. 

The next object which attracted our attention was 
the old Observatory, of which an illustration is given. 



DELHI 163 

It was erected in 1728 by Rajah Jey Sing, of Jey- 
pore, who deserves to be remembered as a man of 
true science, and as one who labored most earnestly 
and successfully in applying it practically. Five 
other observatories, that of Benares beiniz: one of 
them, were also built by him. It is unnecessary to 
describe all the buildings, a portion of which are 
illustrated. There are two equatorial dials; the size 
of one is, in round numbers — base, one huixlred and 
four feet; perpendicular, fifty-six; and the hypo- 
thenuse, one hundred and eighteen. 

We passed the grand old Pathan Fort, above a 
mile from Delhi, and beneath the archway which 
represents the gate of old Delhi, the capital of Feroze 
Shah, and destroyed by Timoor. As in the case of 
most ruins of towns in India, and of palaces, forts, 
tombs, and even tanks, not the British, but the natives 
themselves, were their destroyers. Delhi itself, even 
in the eighteenth century, was sacked by Persian, by 
Mahratta, and by Afghan. To intestine wars, and 
especially to the remorseless raids of the Mahratta 
powers, and to the whims and tyranny of local 
rulers, we are to attribute the marks of ruin every- 
where visible, and the destruction of works of utility 
as well as beauty. Whatever decay can be charged 
to English neglect or parsimony has been a million- 
fold made up by their just administration and pro- 
tection of property, not to speak of their magnificent 
Avorks in irrigation, public roads, crowned by four 



164 DATS m NORTH INDIA. 

thousand miles of railways and of telegraphic wires 
connecting India with the civilized world. 

There are very many objects in Delhi well worth 
seeing and describing, but, not having had the good 
fortune to see them, I cannot have the pleasure of 
describing them, without drawing on the experiences 
of more leisurely tourists. Indeed, my brief notices 
of what I saw are merely explanatory of my illustra- 
tions. The reader may be enabled, however, by both 
these means to form a true idea of a few of the 
wonders of Delhi and its neighborhood. Those who 
have long resided in the country must riot be offended 
by the attempt of a hasty tourist to describe it, nor 
deem me presumptuous in speaking about those glo- 
rious sights, any more than if I attempted to describe 
the moon and the stars as seen in an Indian sky, 
merely because I had gazed upon them for a few 
nights only, whereas " the old Indian " may have 
been smoking cheroots beneath them " why, sir, for 
thirty years ! and therefore / ought to know some- 
thing about them — but you ! " 

But, after all, it is the memories and scenes of the 
mutiny which impress one most in Delhi. Let me 
endeavor, then, to aid in carrying down the story 
of that famous time, when our army recovered India, 
and at once revolutionized and saved it.* 



"^ Those who wish to read the details of this stirring time in North 
India will find them admirably given in the two volumes, "The Pun- 
jaub and Delhi in 1857," written by the Kev. Cave Brown. Such volumes 



DELHI. 



165 



Delhi was the home of a great family whose riches 
were gone, whose splendor had vanished, and for 
whose energies and ambition there w\as no scope. 
The palace was occupied by a small army of aristo- 
cratic Orientals, full of pride, but destitute of money, 
and subjected to every possible temptation. The 
idea of a mutiny w\as therefore a very natural one 
to be suggested in such a place, and, once suggested, 
there was much to induce the hope of its being suc- 
cessful. The king w^as an old toothless debauchee of 
nearly eighty, and had nothing to lose. The numer- 

as these, and Mr, Trevelyan's " Cawnpore," with others of a simihir trust- 
worthy character, should be published in a form suited for school li- 
braries, so that our children's children might be instructed in what their 
countrymen had done in "the brave days of old." Surely these are as 
worth}' of being known as the deeds of Greek or Roman fame with 
which boys are crammed, and which are soon forgotten, because wanting 
in personal interest to them as boys and Britons. Such narratives, too, 
might be made truly "religious," and thus cultivate a love of country, and 
an admiration for deeds of heroism, endurance, and self-sacrilice. Our 
wrong-doing should also be confessed, that the young might learn to hate 
all injustice and cruelty. We can now, as we never could in former 
times, reproduce grand pictures of the noblest Christian faith exhibitod in 
many a campaign in India, not b}' gentle women only, but hy gentle-vien 
and great soldiers. Our wars, when just, and our victories, are as fit sub- 
jects for religious thought and praise as were the battles of the Jews 
comiiiemorated in many of the Psalms. How much more "religious" 
and inspiring might such volumes be made for our youth than scores 
which pass for this, merely because they are full of religious words and 
phrases and exhibit only the simpler forms of life — the strength of prin- 
ciple tested and revealed generally, if not always, by sickness or disease, 
or by a peaceful death-bed surrounded by pious and loving friends ! Our 
young lads should be made to see how, in the camp or on the deck, in 
time of war and buttle, men may adorn their faith in Christ. 



IQQ DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

ous princes were almost beggars, and their future was 
hopeless. The nobles were much in the same con- 
dition. Twenty millions of Mohammedans could be , 
relied on as fanatical haters of Britain, and as having 
a traditional attachment to their king, as the repre- 
sentative of their race, their rule, and their faith. 
The whole Bengal army, splendidly drilled, with in- 
fantry, cavalry, and artillery, were with them to a 
man. If the handful of European troops, and of 
European civilians, by a bold coup cTetat, could be cut 
off at once, would England cross oceans and march 
over plains with no captives to relieve, and attempt 
to reconquer India ? It was a stake worth risking 
much for. Policy and hate, religion and race, all 
combined to favor the attempt. The result showed 
how nearly it had succeeded! 

On the 16th of May a telegram was flashed from 
Delhi. It shook the nerves of the bravest in every 
cantonment, north and south, to which it was in a 
moment repeated: — '''The Sepoys have come in from 
Meerut, and are hurning everything. Mr. Todd is dead., 
and, we hear, several Europeans. We must shut upT 
These words were sent by a brave man, who was im- 
mediately cut down, with his hand on the signaling 
apparatus. But he helped to save India and the lives 
of his countrymen. The mutineers were not ex- 
pected so soon, even by the king. The shell had 
burst before its time ; and but for the mysterious 
stupidity at Meerut on the part of those in com- 



DELHI. 



167 



maiid, the European troops there might have hin- 
dered the traitors, stained with English blood, from 
reaching Delhi. When clouds of dust were seen 
coming along the road from Meerut, caused by 
troopers galloping toward the city, every one won- 
dered, except those in the secret ; but these included 
the inhabitants of the palace and all the troops in 
and around the city, in cantonments and on guard ; 
for they were, without exception, all natives. When 
the news spread of this sudden arrival, and when the 
worst suspicions were aroused, then followed the gal- 
loping hither and thither of civil servants and military 
officers to the guard-rooms, to the police-stations, to the 
palace, to the cantonments. Then there was the call- 
ing out of troops and establishing of batteries — reveal- 
ing in a moment the aAvful fact of treachery — treach- 
ery everywhere; no one to rely on; a whole city, from 
the palace to the police-office, full of hate, rapidly 
developing into bloody thoughts and bloody deeds. 
The air was now filled with fierce fanatical shrieks of 
" Deen ! Deen !" the Mohammedan battle-cry of many 
a revolt and massacre in the cause of "the Faith." 
And so it happened that ere the sun of that day set, 
all Europeans, with the exception of a few who had 
escaped like rats along the city ditch, and ladies and 
children who had fled to the flag-staff tower and the 
ridge — all were massacred, men, women, and chil- 
dren, by fifteen hundred mutineers, aided by all the 
rascally scum of that vile city, i^.ll the natives, too, 

12 



IQg DATS IN NORTH INDIA. 

who were known to be connected with us as employes, 
teachers^ or students in colleges — missionaries and 
chaplains — native or Christian pastors, every native 
even speaking the English language — all were cut 
down in the fierce slaughter. Some who had con- 
cealed themselves were in a day or two dragged from 
their hiding-places, betrayed, and slain. The canton- 
ments, too, were in arras; officers were killed; but 
the fugitives in the round tower managed to escape 
under cover of night, and then every sign of English 
power or sound of English speech had passed away 
from Delhi. 

But that was not until a great deed of heroism had 
been performed which is fresh in the memories of 
most, but is unknown, I doubt not, to many at least 
of my younger readers. There was a small European 
staff over the powder magazine, consisting of some 
officers of artillery. Lieutenant Willoughby in com- 
mand, with three conductors, one sub conductor, and 
one sergeant of artillery. No assistance could be 
sent to them, but they would not desert their post. 
King's troops demanded admittance and were refused. 
Furious crowds of soldiers surrounded them, and 
began firing on the small band, climbing over the 
walls with ladders to seize the place. As many guns 
as could be mustered were crammed with grape and 
worked for five hours incessantly against thousands. 
But in vain ! Most of the few defenders were 
wounded. Further resistance was impossible, and 



DETAIL 



ll'.O 



the last had come. But that Last was terrible! Wil- 
loughby determhied, if no relief appeared, to blow up 
the magazine, and he and his men to run the risk of 
being blown up with it! The train was set. It 
reached the foot of a fruit-tree where Scully was 
stationed, and it was settled that when Buckley, 
who was waiting for the signal from his command- 
ing officer, should raise his hat, the fuse would be 
applied. Willoughby, rushing to a bastion from 
whence he could see the Meerut road, gave one 
anxious gaze — was relief coming? No! He re- 
turned to his guns \ a word was passed to Buckley, 
who raised his hat, and the train was fired. A roar 
louder than the loudest thunder was heard at the 
flag-staff tower. The magazine, with hundreds of the 
natives, had been blown into the air. Poor Scully, 
Lieutenant-Conductor Crow, and Sergeant Edwards 
were killed; Tooms, Ranger, Shaw, Buckley, and 
Stewart, strange to say, escaped to wear the Victoria 
Cross. Willoughby also escaped, but he, alas! was 
murdered three days afterward in a village as he 
was making his way to Meerut. '-One who saw 
him rush past, said that that morning had stamped 
years of age and care on his fair boyish face." 

And now every eye was turned to Delhi, every 
bayonet that could be spared w^as pointing toward 
"the bloody city." 

Every European soldier that could be spared from 
defending important military positions was nuistered 



170 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

with all possible speed. But sucli troops were few ; 
the distances were great; the heat of an Indian 
sun was daily increasing. The mutiny was rapidly 
spreading, and bursting into flames over a wide ex- 
tent of country. But all that men could do would 
be done. Our possession of India, not to speak of 
the lives of all the Europeans in it, was at stake. 

By the 5th of June a comparatively small force 
under Sir H. Barnard, marching from Umballa, was 
ten miles from Delhi. He was joined by another 
under command of Brigadier Wilson; and on the 8th 
of June the victory of Badlee Serai, near Delhi, was 
gained, and the famous ridge occupied. That ridge 
might seem to have been made for the purpose of 
keeping India under a Christian power! It never was, 
nor is likely to be, used for a nobler end. It rises 
gently from the plain, which, for a mile or a mile and 
a half, separates it from the walls of Delhi. Rocks 
like a rough comb, or dorsal vertebrae, run along 
portions of its summit. To the north it again slopes 
into a plain, where the cantonments were, and which 
were defended by a canal running along its whole 
length. It thus communicated with the Punjp.ub, 
from whence our supplies were received. This ridge 
is so near Delhi that the shot from its walls often 
passed over it, and plunged into the cantonments 
behind. It was flanked to the southwest by villages 
— like Subzee Mundee (vegetable market) — from 
which attacks could at any tirqe be made under 



DELHI. 



i io 



cover by the enemy. Along the summit of the ridge 
were some points of defense— the flag-staff house," a 
small mosque, an observatory, and Hindoo liao's 
house.* The force which was established on the 
ridge did not consist of more than five thousand 
men of all arms. They were joined, however, next 
day by a few infantry and cavalry, which, beneath a 
burning sun, had marched from the Punjaub, five 
hundred, and eighty miles in twenty-two days! 

The enemy in Delhi was increasing daily; for to 
it, as the Mohammedan rallying-point, all the fine 
regiments of our Bengal army that were within reach 
— infantry, cavalry, and artillery — marched, and 
could not be prevented entering by our troops, as 
the city lay between them and the bridge of boats 
by which they crossed into the old fort Selimghur, 
now pierced by the railway. At the first the enemy 
were as two to one, and at the last five to one. The 
city was defended by a wall twenty-four feet high, 
with bastions, a covering glacis, ditch, etc., as seen 
in the illustration of the Cashmere Gate, and all in 
good repair, with an inexhaustible store of artillery 
and ammunition, used by men who had been drilled 
by ourselves. 



* This house had been once the home of the British resident, Mr. 
Eraser, an excellent man, who was murdered— probably from the hatred 
of the people to his insolent predecessor— in 1835, by a certain Nawab 
and a Kuman Khan, both of whom were afterward huni,^ for the crime 
near the Cashmere Gate. Hindoo Rao, who bought the house, was a 
Mahratta. 

12* 



174 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

Cholera had accompanied our troops in the march. 
It never left the camp. The general in command, 
Sir H. Barnard, was cut down by it early in July; 
the previous commander-in-chief, General Anson, 
having died from it the day before the arrival of his 
successor. The next commander. General Reid, who 
had to retire from bad health the same month, was 
succeeded by Brigadier Wilson, who continued to the 
end of the siege. By the month of August our troops 
had increased to eight thousand effective men, but at 
the end of that month upwards of three thousand men 
were in hospital! 

For upwards of three months we were not the be- 
siegers, but the besieged: twenty-five attacks having 
been resisted. These were made by the successive 
bodies of mutineers who^ as they arrived, were sent 
to prove their loyalty to the king, by trying their 
mettle against the British. For awhile it was all we 
could do to hold our own. The heat was terrific, 
our troops few, sickness great; and, had no assist- 
ance come, every man must have perished. Even as 
it was, had the cavalry in the city, amounting at one 
time to seven thousand men, been tolerably well 
handled — had there been mutual trust, instead of 
constant suspicion — all our supplies could have been 
cut off from the Punjaub, and we should have been 
starved out. But "God confounded their counsels." 
The king and his ministers were all the while, very 
naturally, endeavoring to rouse the great Moham- 



DELHI. 



175 



medan chiefs to rally round tlie l)anncr of thoir licp-e 
lord, and drive the hated infidels into the sea. A 
reply to one of those appeals was afterward found in 
the palace: "Take down," it said, ''the British flag 
from that ridge, and I will join you; ])ut so long as it 
flies there, I won't!" But that flag, thank God! 
was never taken down until it was raised a2:ain in 
Delhi. 

In the mean time. Sir John Lawrence, who fortu- 
nately for us ruled in the Punjauh, and was an em- 
bodiment of w4iat the natives fear and respect — 
power, kindness, unswerving truth, and inexorable 
justice — had adopted the policy of sending every 
man who could be raised to Delhi, trusting for his 
defense against the ill-disposed to the better-disposed 
of the Sikh chieftains in the Punjaub. His argument 
was, that if Delhi fell, then all was lost, and nothing 
could save the Punjaub; but that if Delhi were 
taken, all was saved, in the Punjaub and everywhere 
else. He also sent men who were, each in his own 
way, a host in himself Foremost was the great 
Nicholson, the man whom all loved and trusted, and 
who was literally worshiped by the natives ; the man 
of military genius and of courage never darkened by 
a shade of fear; the man of such endurance that he 
had a few weeks before been in the saddle for twenty- 
four hours, pursuing the flying enemy for seventy 
miles without halting; the man sans peur et sans re- 
procJie. With him was a young engineer officer, now 



l^Q DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

Colonel Taylor, "the gallant and eminently talented," 
as he was described in the dispatch of General Wil- 
son, who was fully appreciated by Lawrence, and in 
whom the distinguished chief in command of that 
arm of the service, Colonel Baird Smith, then laid 
aside by sickness, found a brother, who valued the 
true greatness, sweet temper, and perfect tact of his 
chief — all needed from the want of them in certain 
high quarters. 

Nicholson, after fighting the battle of Nujufghur, 
and gaining a great victory, in spite of the greatest 
difficulties, joined the besieging army in August. 
The siege train arrived in September, and by the 
seventh of that month the first battery opened its 
fire. The others were soon established nearer and 
nearer the walls, until fifty guns and mortars poured 
into it shot and shell day and night from the 12th 
till the 14th. 

On that day the final assault was delivered by 
several columns of attack. The one led by Nichol- 
son scaled the breach at the Cashmere Gate, nearly 
at the point from which our illustration is taken. 
Some old Sikhs afterward, as they looked at it, know- 
ing the tremendous odds against us, remarked to my 
informant, " It was not man but God who led the 
British soldiers across that ditch and up that walll" 
The exploit at the same time of blowing open the 
Cashmere Gate was one of the noblest deeds in his- 
tory. It w^as this: 



DELI1L 



17 



The third column, under the gallant Colonel Cauij)- 
bell of the 52d, was to enter by this gate, which was 
to be blown down by pow^ler bags. The exploding 
party consisted of Lieutenants Salkeld and Home, of 
the Engineers ; Sergeants Carmichael, Burgess, and 
Smith, of the Bengal Sappers; and Bugler Hawthorn, 
of the 52d. The forlorn -hope, doomed almost to 
certain death, waited calmly for the signal at early 
dawn to advance. The firing from the batteries sud- 
denly ceased. The bugle sounded ; the rifles rushed 
from under cover and cheered; "out moved Home 
with four soldiers, each carrying a bag of powder on 
his head ; close behind him came Salkeld, portfire in 
hand, with more soldiers similarly laden ; while, a 
short distance beyond, w^as the storming-party, one 
hundred and fifty strong, under Captain Bayley, of 
the 52d, followed up by the main body of the column 
in the rear. The gatcAvay, as in all native cities, was 
on the side of the bastion, and had an outer gateway 
in advance of the ditch. Home and his party were 
at this outer gate almost before their approach was 
known. It was open ; but the draw^bridge w^as so 
shattered that it was very difficult to cross; however, 
they got over it, reached the main gate, and laid 
their powder unharmed. So utterly paralyzed was 
the enemy at the audacity of the proceeding that they 
only fired a few straggling shots and made haste to 
close the wicket with every appearance of alarm. Lieu- 
tenant Home, after laying his bags, was thus able to 



278 DAYS IN NOBTH INDIA, 

jump into the ditch unhurt. It was now Salkeld's 
turn. He also advanced with four bags of powder and 
a lighted portfire. But the enemy had now recovered 
from their consternation, and had seen the weakness 
of the party and the object of their approach. A 
deadly fire was forthwith poured upon the little band 
from the top of the gateway, from both flanks, and 
from the open wicket not ten feet distant. Salkeld laid 
his bags, but was shot through the arm, and fell back 
on the bridge, handing the portfire to Sergeant Bur- 
gess, bidding him light the fuse. Burgess was instantly 
shot dead in the attempt. Sergeant Carmichael then 
advanced, took up the portfire and succeeded in the 
attempt, but immediately fell mortally wounded. 
Sergeant Smith, seeing him fall, advanced at a run, 
but finding that the fuse was already burning, threw 
himself down into the ditch, where the bugler had 
already conveyed poor Salkeld. In another moment 
a terrific explosion shattered the massive gate. The 
bugler sounded the advance, and then with a loud 
cheer the storming-party was at the gateway. In a 
few minutes more the entire column arrived, and the 
Cashmere Gate and mainguard were in our hands."* 
But ere that day closed, sixty-six officers and eleven 
hundred and four men had been killed or wounded 



^ "Punjaub and Delhi," vol. ii. pp. 173-4. All these heroes who 
survived received the Victoria Cross. But, alas ! after lingering several 
days Salkeld died of his wounds, and Home was killed soon afterward 
when blowing up the Fort of Malaghur. 



DELHI. 270 

— among them the invincible Nicliolson. He had 
led his troop along a narrow lane between the houses 
and the walls to the Lahore Gate, and was mortally 
wounded by a shot which entered his lungs benenth 
his arm, as it was held aloft cheering on his men to 
the charge.* 

Delhi was not yet won. The resistance was des- 
perate. Its armed and now reckless thousands filled 
every house and house-top, and wherever room could 
be found to command our troops advancing through 
narrow streets. A third of our men under arms were 
disabled in the fight, which continued from the 14th 
to the 19th, wdien the city' was at last wholly ours. 
So fierce was the struggle at one time, that the Gen- 
eral had thoughts of withdrawing the troops. When 
the brave Colonel Campbell of the 52d, who had led 
the assault at the Cashmere Gate, heard this report, 
he exclaimed, "I am in, and I shan't go out!'' To 
retire would have been destruction. But the troops 
were at first perfectly demoralized from being tempted 
by the wild heat and dreadful fatigue and excite- 
ment, to drink from the almost inexhaustible stores of 
intoxicating liquors which had been designedly laid 
in their way by the enemy — more deadly and danger- 
ous than ball or bayonet. The number of bottles of 

* An order arrived from tlio Conim:nidcr-in-Cliii'f, Sir Colin ("amp- 
bell, superseding liim as Bri2;adier-G(Mi(ral! lied tape could do no 
more. Fortunately, Nicbolscn never licard (»f tlii.s. It came afttT his 
death. 



X80 BAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

spirits, etc. destroyed by order frora the General is 
reported to have been "almost fabulous." But, never- 
theless, "the wicked and rebellious city" was taken. 
Lucknow and Delhi, the Sodom and Gomorrah of 
India, had both perished. British troops bivouacked 
in the Great Mosque and the Palace of the Moguls, 
as they did in the Kaiser Bagh of Lucknow, and 
India was saved, to become a part of our empire from 
Cape Comorin to the Kyber Pass! 

There was one remarkable episode of this siege, 
with which we conclude our sketch. 

The king was never good when at his best, but 
now he was too old and used up in body and mind to 
exercise any influence or power, except by giving the 
authority of his name to those willing to restore the 
dignity of his house and to "avenge him on his ad- 
versaries." He had fled with the royal princes, and 
some thousands of fanatical but terrified armed fol- 
lowers, to take refuge, like an old toothless tiger, 
in the dark vaults of Plumayoon's tomb, already de- 
scribed. Hodson heard of this. He was head of 
" the intelligence department" in the camp, as well 
as commander of " the Guides," a splendid body of 
Sikh Sowars. He had spies too, one at least, an old 
friend long known to him, in Delhi, during the whole 
period of the siege. He found also a willing traitor, 
from love of life and of backsheesh, in one of the 
king's relatives. After some diplomatic bargain-mak- 
ing through him with the king, Hodson was per- 



DELHI. Igj 

mitted to grant the worthless old man's life, and that 
of a favorite wife w^orse than himself, and of their 
son — if they nnconditionally surrendered. After a 
few hours' anxious conference between the king and 
the "mutual friend," during which Hodson anxiou.^ly 
waited outside the tomb, the royal party surrendered, 
and straightAvay were conducted to Delhi, the band 
of followers offering no obstruction. The king entered 
his palace, and in the Great Hall of Audience lie 
was received in state by the representative of Great 
Britain, and conveyed to prison. Ultimately, as we 
all know, he was transported to Rangoon and died in 
exile. 

But his sons, the really guilty ones, were yet in 
Humayoon's tomb. To this Hodson next day re- 
turned. The gardens were full of an armed and 
infuriated mob, numbering some seven thousand, of 
the scum of the palace and of Delhi. Hodson had 
only a hundred of his '^ Guides." Accompanied by 
only one other officer, Captain Macdonald, he passed 
beneath the great gateway, where, as he soon learned, 
the princes lay concealed. With a loud voice he 
commanded obedience, and, entering the gardens, 
ordered — what sublime impudence ! — the crowd to 
lay down their arms ! He was at their mercy ; for 
a word from any fanatic would have cut him and his 
companion to pieces. But they sat unmoved on their 
horses; Hodson smoking his cigar as a sign ot cahn 
confidence in his resources. All arms were sur- 

13 



2g2 DATS IN NORTH INDIA. 

rendered, piled into carts, and driven to Delhi, six 
miles off! The princes then surrendered uncondi- 
tionally, and were sent off under a guard in buggies. 
Hodson, with his force, then followed at some dis- 
tance. Not a word had been spoken during these 
hours of intense anxiety; but when well clear of the 
tomb, and rapidly drawing with his rear-guard to- 
ward the princes, and between them and the mob, 
he said to his companion, "Mac! we have done it!" 
Yes, he had done it ! done it bravely and well. It 
would have been well had he done no more. A man 
of more splendid dash and daring never charged a 
foe, and few possessed greater general culture and 
talent. But he had his failings, which it is not 
pleasant or necessary to allude to further. His 
killing of the Delhi princes is indefensible. There 
was neither, as Avas alleged, an attempt at, nor a 
possibility of, rescue by the rabble, whom he had 
disarmed. That these worthless princes deserved 
death is admitted, but it was for the honor and 
dignity of Britain that they should have been form- 
ally tried, condemned, and executed by the tribunal 
sitting in Delhi, as most certainly they would have 
been — not dragged out of their conveyances, stripped 
naked (to discover concealed loot?) and then shot, as 
was done by Hodson, with his own hand. The dead 
bodies were exposed for some days on an old stone 
platform of the mosque in the Chandnee Chouk, the 
spot, I was informed, occupied by Nadir Shah on the 
afternoon after the great massacre of Delhi. 



DELHI. |g3 

These men and their followers deserved, no doubt, 
their fate. Fifteen English gentlemen and two ladies 
had been massacred in cold blood in the palace and 
city of Delhi. This was impossible without the con- 
sent, either active or implied, of those princes, who 
were in command. But I repeat, for the sake of the 
uninformed at home, what no one now denies in 
India, that no insults, such as we read about at the 
time, were offered to any of our ladies. They were 
suddenly cut down and slain — sufficiently terrible, 
no doubt — but, thank God ! that was all. I feel also 
bound, once more, as a citizen and Christian, to 
acknowledge with shame our fierce and uncalled-for 
revenge, upon innocent persons too, after the mutiny ; 
and our wholesale and cowardly executions and cruel- 
ties. I shall not prove this by giving instances, too 
many of which I have received from- those whose 
names and means of iuformation are guarantees for 
their truth. No good can come now from such sensa- 
tional stories, but an expression of our deep regret is 
due to truth and righteousness. Man's nature seems 
to change in times of great excitement. The weak 
and timid often become great and brave; persons 
thought great and brave become sometimes athirst 
for blood.* 



* Among other narratives which toucli on those bk)ocly deeds, the 
reader should consult the Diary of " llussell of the Tunes," as he is callod, 
and Mr. Trevelyan's " Cawnpore. " Since the ahove was in type, I accident- 
ally met a baronet who had taken a distinguished part in the Lucknow 



284 DAYS IN NORTH INDIA. 

In thinking over these dreadful times it is a pleas- 
ing fact, that although about two thousand native 
Christians were involved in the mutiny, not one 
fought against us. Mr. Raikes, a distinguished ci- 
vilian, in his "Notes on the Revolt" (p. 139), says, 
in corroboration of the same opinion expressed by 
other competent authorities, " I found it to be a 
general rule that when you had an official well edu- 
cated at our English colleges, and conversant with 
the English tongue, then you had a friend on whom 
reliance could be placed." The mutineers, as a rule, 
" would trust nobody who ever • knew English." He 



campaign. On asking his opinion regarding those unworthy deeds, he 
said, " If a balance were drawn between the cruelties of the natives, and 
of our soldiers and officers in India, I fear there would be little mercy to 
our credit." It was verj^ awful! "The least said, soonest mended." 
Let the dead bury their dead. Thank God for Lawrence, Canning, and 
many others who stayed the arm of the avenger, and were merciful and 
good; and thank God for the brighter day which has dawned on India, 
and promises to become brighter. The only cruel thing, by the way, 
which I saw done by a European toward a native, was just as the train 
from Delhi to Calcutta was moving slowly out of the station. A native 
servant, apparently in the attitude of salaaming, approached a vulgar- 
looking person who had been pointed out to me as a European engaged 
in some mercantile business in Delhi. The miscreant gave the native a 
severe blow on the face with his fist, which drew blood ; the poor creat- 
ure bent down, covering his face as if in pain, when a kick was ad- 
ministered, which reached his chest, and sent him -off" with a scream of 
agony ! No one seemed to take the slightest notice. I shouted out, 
" You brute !" but the train moved off, and mj voice was lost in the din. 
There was much of India's past history, and of the revolt of India, re- 
vealed in that brief scene. May such fellows be extirpated from the 
land! 



DELHI. 



185 



also remarks that " the Httle body of native converts 
vrho had openly professed Christianity identified them- 
selves with their co-religionists, and evinced their sin- 
cerity by accepting all the difliculties of our position, 
and thro whig their lot heartily in with our own. 
Their cause and the Englishman's cause were one, 
and many of them sealed the confession of their l;iith 
with their blood." Why, one asks, are not Christians 
from Southern India, as well as the indomitable hill 
tribes, like the brave little Goorkas, made to form 
the strength of our native regiments? 

There can be no doubt that all who had anything 
to lose, whether in Delhi or anywhere else, sincerely, 
and on purely selfish grounds, welcomed the return 
of our reign. All the blackguardism of the country 
had been let loose when our grasp was relaxed, and 
the tax-gatlierer had fled. It is absurd, however, to 
suppose that the natives did not suffer. They were 
in fear of their lives, and were robbed of their prop- 
erty. It is equally erroneous to suppose that natives 
of power and influence did not aid us. Had they not 
done so, we could not possibly have maintained, far 
less regained, our position. I believe every man of 
character, influence, and property in India wishes us 
well, as being the only government with justice and 
power which has ever existed in India, or is at 
present possible. It may be true, as I have often 
heard in India, that "the natives hate us, and we 
them." But, please God, a truer union will be ef- 

13* 



Igg DAYS IN NOBTH INDIA. \ 

fected through the knowledge of a common Father 

and Saviour. \ 

Before leaving Delhi, as a matter of course, I j 

visited the famous ridore. I have seen almost all ; 
the famous battle-fields of Europe, with the exception 

of those in Spain. I have been at Marathon. But i 

never did I feel that I was treading in the footsteps i 

of nobler soldiers, or of men deserving more of the \ 
gratitude of their country and of the Christian Church, 

than those who fought and suifered here. With ; 

deepest interest I traced the trenches near the Ob- j 

servatory and Hindoo Rao's house, and listened to j 

the silence and calm of nature, where once had sv/ept ■ 

for months the roar and storm of battle, as I had ; 

once listened all alone to the bee humming among \ 

the wild- flowers at Hougoumont. I gazed on the | 

ridge from my room in Ludlow Castle, itself once a \ 
spot of stern combat; I entered the Cashmere Gate,* 

and recalled the scene I have described, and walked j 

along the lane where Nicholson received his death- ; 

wound. I visited, also, his grave, near the Cashmere : 

Gate ; and — j 

" Oh, for words to utter 

The thoughts that arose in me !" \ 

\ 

After the mutiny there was a revolt threatened, : 

* I was arrested on entering the gateway by a placard printed in large 
letters: " Blow the Drum!" What followed this inaugural announce- 
ment? "David Carson and his minstrels is comino;!" So much for the i 
contrasts of war and peace. \ 



DELHI. 



187 



in 1858, of, if possible, a still more serious character, 
and which occasioned the deepest anxiety to the 
authorities. It was that of a number of our British 
troops. They supposed themselves to be — and justly, 
I think — unfLiirly treated when passed over from the 
Company's army, for which alone they enlisted, into 
the Queen's army, without receiving any additional 
bounty or a discharge. Letters were opened at the 
post-office by the authorities, which revealed a wide- 
spread conspiracy to unite and march to Delhi. It 
was a terrible revelation. Their counsels were dis- 
covered, and fortunately baffled, in good time ; con- 
cessions were made, and, as no outbreak had taken 
place, nothing was said about it; and so the danger 
passed. 

Delhi was my "farthest North." The hour had 
come to return to Calcutta, to embark for home, " by 
the doctor's orders." Apart from other considera- 
tions, it was to me a bitter disappointment not to 
have got a glimpse of the glorious Himalayas, the 
dream of my youth. But it could not be. I did 
little or nothing in my Northern journey for Christian 
missions, beyond addressing a few meetings and hear- 
ing something about the progress of the blessed work, 
which I cannot state here. My dear friend and com- 
panion. Dr. Watson, was to finish alone, in the North, 
whatw^e had begun together in the South; and he was 
well able, in all respects, to do it, without my aid or 
counsel. We had quite a womanly parting-scene at 



188 DATS IN NORTH INDIA. 

the junction which separated us — he going with my 
old friend Mr. Gillan, one of our chaplains, to Meerut, 
and I alone to Calcutta. On I came for a thousand 
miles without a pause — a distance which but as yester- 
day took three months to accomplish, reaching Cal- 
cutta when "due." 

So ended my days in North India. 

I was welcomed at the station by my good friends, 
Dr. Charles, Dr. Ogilvie, William Craik, etc. 



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The Irish Sketch-Book, &c. 

The Book of Snobs, &c. 

Roundabout Papers. 

Ballads and Tales. 

The Four Georges and English 
Humorists. 

Dennis Duval, Lovel the Wid- 
ower, &c. 

The Story of Catherine, Fit^- 
boodle Papers, (!v:c. 



umes, and contains all of Mr. Thackeray's 
writings, which it is believed he would 
have desired should be included in a stan- 
dard edition of his works. 

Much new and interesting matter has 
been printed in tliis series, and every care 
has been taken to make it a complete as 
well as a permanent edition. 



Incidents of the United States Christian Connnis- 
sion. By Rev. Edward P. Smith. With Steel Plates and 
numerous Wood-Cut Illustrations. 8vo. Extra cloth, $3. Snb- 

scriptio7t Book. 



"A deeply interesting narrative of events 
in the various National armies during the 
late war. . . . Many of these Incidents 
were exceedingly affectinir, and will be 
found very profitable as well as attractive 
reading. ' ' — Cincinnati Gazette. 

''This is a book of thrilling interest. 
The incidents connected with the five 
thousand Delegates of the Christian Com- 
mission, on battle-fields, in fever wards, 
and beside the dying, can never lose in- 
terest among Christian and patriotic Amer- 
icans. The volume is a very attractive 
one, and should have a large circulation." 
— Presbyterian Banner. 



" We defy any one to take up this won- 
derful book and read it tiirous;li wiiliout 
being affected to tears or moved at limes 
to laughter. . . . Tiie volume is suited to 
minister or layman, and we trust it will 
have a large circulation." — Chronicle and 
A dvcrtiscr. 

" It is a book for the family, for the S.nb- 
bath-School Library, and lor the pastor's 
study. Ministers and others will find it 
full of apt and striking ilhistraiions, to be 
used in communicating gospel truth. It 
cannot but have a wide and steady s.ile. ' 
— American Guardian. 



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In Monthly Parts, price 25 cents ; Annual Subscription, ^2.75. 



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Rt. Hon. W. E. Gladstone, Sir J. W. Herschel, Henry Rogers; 
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